Influx

Great writing from Heather Havrilesky in Salon who connects the failed experiment of the American Dream to the contemporary appeal of Mad Men.

“Americans are constantly in search of an upgrade. It’s a sickness
that’s infused into our blood, a dissatisfaction with the ordinary
that’s instilled in us from childhood. Instead of staying connected to
the divine beauty and grace of everyday existence — the glimmer of
sunshine on the grass, the blessing of a cool breeze on a summer day —
we’re instructed to hope for much more. Having been told repeated
stories about the fairest in the land, the most powerful, the richest,
the most heroic (Snow White, Pok?mon, Ronald McDonald, Lady Gaga),
eventually we buy into these creation myths and concede their
overwhelming importance in the universe. Slowly we come to view our own
lives as inconsequential, grubby, even intolerable.

Meanwhile, the American dream itself — a house, a job, a car, a
family, a little lawn for the kids to frolic on — has expanded into
something far broader and less attainable than ever. Crafty
insta-celebrities and self-branding geniuses and social media gurus
assert that submitting to the daily grind to pay the mortgage
constitutes a meager existence. Books like “The 4-Hour Work Week” tell
us that working the same job for years is for suckers. We should be paid
handsomely for our creative talents, we should have the freedom to
travel and live wherever we like, our children should be exposed to the
wonders of the globe at an early age.

In other words, we’re always falling short, no matter what our
resources, and we pass this discontent to our offspring. And so millions
of aspiring 3-year-old princesses hum “Someday my prince will come!” to
themselves, turning their backs on the sweetness of the day at hand.”

Posted by Ed Cotton