OPINIONS
I am writing this from your page on Steinbeck and Thompson, where you ask for
comments on The American Dream and it's apparent failure.
The American Dream is basically that upward mobility in our society is
possible. A man dreams of one day having the little plot to call his own,
works hard and gets it. A person can do what they want, regardless of where
they start from. The classic example is the Horatio Alger story of winning
through pluck and luck against all odds and arriving at the top.
In America, you at least have the opportunity to do this.
In most other countries, this is not the case. You are born into one caste or
another and there you stay for life. Japan is a perfect example. There is an
rich upper class and a poor lower class that works itself literally to death.
There is little or no mixing of the two. India is the same way. And so is
England, for the most part (c.f. the punk movement of the seventies). This is
why it's the AMERICAN Dream.
The concept of The Failure Of The American Dream is rooted in the common
fallacy that people and opportunity are equal in America. No matter how close
to an egalitarian society we have, there are still tremendous obstacles to
upward mobility, especially for most ethnic groups. The game is rigged, as it
were. The romantic fantasy is that through hard work and perseverence, you
automatically come out on top; if you follow the rules and do what you're
supposed to, everything will be OK.
The truth is that people are largely cannibalistic and will attack and devour
you if given the chance. People lie to each other. Appearances are more
important than substance (c.f. politicians). People seek to control others
and profit from their labors, if not steal directly from them. Employers are
the worst of the lot. You can work hard, produce tremendous wealth for them
and still go to the early grave penniless. Now THAT'S the failure of the
American Dream. It's like following the map's directions exactly and winding
up where you started instead of where you want to go.
As an engineer-turned-businessman, one of the first rules I learned was that
others will do whatever they can to knock you back. This is not just because
they want to relieve you of your patents, property, etc. for their own
aggrandizement. It is because there is an unspoken law that there is not
enough at the top, therefore those already there must exclude all others. The
rules say there's an open market, but the reality is that there are barriers
and obstacles. The rules say that the terms of contracts are supposed to be
honored, but the reality is that people will try to get away with whatever
they can. Nice guys finish last, as it were.
There is also the sporting nature of those in power, marionetting others
about for their own perverse amusement. To truly succeed in business, you
have to treat it like a game. The others aren't there to help you score
points, but to block your shots. Even when it's in their direct interest to
not do so, they will hinder you. Lording power over others is a powerful
aphrodisiac to those that do it and those who get to watch from the
sidelines.
The Failure of the American Dream basically means that the rules were
followed, the myths believed, but the expected result did not materialize.
This sort of thing pervades all of our society. You believe in the legal
fictions of a government of, by and for the people, but then are confronted
with the reality that the real control is behind the scenes. You're told that
the justice system and police are there to protect you, but their primary
interest is arrests and convictions, regardless of guilt or innocence. The
President goes on and on about his War On Drugs, but his V.P. is the ex-head
of the CIA and probably involved in bringing tons of cocaine into the country
to ensure cash flow to South America and a steady increase in prison
populations (who goes to jail? Fred the addict or DeLorean the dealer?) You
sign a lease for a house, and when you move out the landlord keeps the
deposit illegally and contrary to the terms of the lease. You send your money
to Jimmy Swaggart so he can spread the Word of The Good Book, and he uses it
to hire prostitutes. And so forth.
Thompson's Lono book hits the nail right on the head in a chapter called "Why
Do They Lie To Us?" There, the real estate folks promote a tropical paradise
and deliver hell on earth. A nearly identical theme appears later on in Lono,
as well as in The Great Shark Hunt. This time, it's sport-fishing boat owners
promising the trophy marlin or giant shark, but delivering nothing but a bill
for $500 a day. At the end of Lono, Thompson goes right for the jugular and
makes an admirable, though weak, attack on religion.
In Hell's Angels, he writes about the sense of being cut off or left out of
whatever society you're supposed to be a part of. And how the Angels are the
only honest people there are (they never lie to each other). Here, the
failure is that these guys feel they never even got the chance to play the
game, let alone win.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas tells of his refusal to play by the official
rules. Instead of following the law and doing "what he was supposed to", he
comes right out and does whatever he wants. The message is: the only way to
win is to play the game the same way everyone else does: ruthlessly and
selfishly. I guess the Failure of The American Dream here is that in order to
get ahead, one must ignore morality, ethics, conscience. Success demands
disposing of civility and a regression to lower-animal status. The rules say,
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", but the reality is "It's
every man for himself."
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." This
appears at the front of F&L in Las Vegas.
This can mean at least two things. One, that copious ingestion of
anesthesiums dulls pain. The other is more subtle, however. A man that
becomes a ruthless beast is going to get ahead of the pack and thus enjoy
security and a lifestyle unavailable to someone who remains civil and plays
by the rules. The pain of being a man is to endure the usual condition of
being the puppet on strings, serving others and having nothing to show for
it.
For me, there is no greater pain than the feeling that I'm being screwed.
It's screw or be screwed, apparently. I read once about a guy who claimed his
real business degree was earned at Screw U.
TO TRY AND TIE STEINBECK AND THOMPSON TOGETHER IN THE SAME LITERARY
BACKYARD...IS KINDA LIKE PUTTING A FERRET IN A FOXHOLE......(NOT SURE WHOM IS
WHICH...INDESCRIMINATE TYPING...)...ONE THING ABOUT STEINBECK IS THAT HE IS
TRULY AN OPTIMIST...THOMPSON ON THE THE OTHER HAND IS NOT SO EASILY
DEFINED...STEINBECK HAS THE MUCH MORE CLEARLY DEFINED "WRITERS
VOICE"...CRAFTED?.....THOMPSON....DEFINETELY SCATOLOGICAL...AND I HEAR YOU
WITH YOUR "TIE" TO THIS "AMERICAN DREAM THING" AND HOW YOU MIGHT MELD THE
TWO BECAUSE OF THE "ON THE ROAD" JAZZ...BUT AGAIN THEY
DIFFER....STEINBECK=NOVELIST....THOMPSON=JOURNALIST...HEY ..I LIKE EM
BOTH..I DO.....HAVE NO "REAL" PREJUDICE EITHER WAY..AND NOW THAT I THINK OF
IT..I COULD READ EM BACK TO BACK...AND FEEL LIKE I"M NOT CHANGING GEARS SO
MUCH....HAH.....ANYWAY.......STEINBECK SITS AT HEMINGWAY'S KNEE AND THOMPSON
AT HIS FEET.....
Very thoughtful essay. Just an observation here; why do so many foreigners
become so successful when they reach America? It seems to me that many
Americans do not have a clue as to the benefits we have living here. I
think we forget that just the opportunity to succeed is a basic freedom
that eludes many people on this planet. While Americans pontificate and
analyze why so many have so little, people from other countries thrive
under freedoms they never experienced in their own countries. The American
Dream has always been there, buts its attainment depends on having the
perspective to see what opportunities are in front of you.
