An American Dream

The American Dream has been a very persistent and relevant topic in our class. It's considered something that is actively changing, a reflection of our values, or something that has been increasingly hard to attain. Not yet have we came across a text that discusses how there's two versions of the American Dream: a materialistic and moralistic one. His claim that these two different ideas of the American Dream exist is interesting to analyze. He defines the materialistic American Dream as something that values the tangible aspect of success including wealth, status, and power. He claims that this form of the American Dream encourages things like manipulation and exploitation. I agree with this claim when I think of large businesses such as Apple and Walmart that exploit labor overseas in order to reach high sales. A lot of people don't know how heavily outsourced the productions of Iphones are in countries that are considered third world or struggling to reach a 1st world ...

The values and belief system of a country always have some sort of impact in its people. In Gary Athen's book American Ways: A Guide to Foreigners in the United States in a chapter called "American Values and Assumptions", Athen discusses the values and belief systems of the United States and its effect on people. The first and one of the most notable (in my opinion) characteristics he mentions is individualism. This is the idea that one can express themselves in their own unique manner, be self-reliant, and practice independence. Individualism is a very promoted and encouraged idea in our country. It is so admired that our education system is slowly adhering to this concept. 200 student lecture classes in which the professor explains everything and the communication is only one-sided are constantly being criticized by pedagogists, teachers, and students themselves. Classrooms in which the creativity and individual thoughts are expressed more often in a manner in which ...

Academic writing is like listening to a smart British person talk. It's fancy and sophisticated. They use words that you would not use in everyday conversation. But, it's fun to listen to because of the unique diction and sophisticated appeal that comes with it. Being a college student, I have encountered academic writing for class and this exposure helped me see that there is so much time and research spent into things that you would not expect. That idea in it of itself shows that there are so many different interests people take on, and that the level of detail people can reach with these things is pretty amazing. In the anthropology class that I took last semester, we came across many different topics relating to the study of primate behavior. Some of the academic writing I had to look into regarded the activity budget of monkeys, which literally involved scientists watching what a monkey did all day. Of course, this is something that you would have to do if your field o...

I couldn't think of a title more emotionally appealing than "Attack Solidarity". What other aspect of American society is so fundamental and core to what makes us unique as a country? Freedom of opportunity and making sure everybody receives equal treatment are values that we all cherish as Americans. However, Chomsky's rhetorical strategies once again prevail in making us wonder if these things truly exist in our nation. Chomsky uses very specific language to create an image of people who are above you and control the things you do. For example, in the very second sentence of this chapter he states, "From the point of view of the masters, you're only supposed to care about yourself, not about other people". Specifically referring to the people who create policies and legislatures in our nation as "masters" depicts them as people who view American citizens as servants or slaves simply turning the cogs for our American system. He also continue...

A requiem is defined as an act of token or remembrance. Chomsky infamously titles his book, "Requiem for the American Dream", to suggest that the American Dream is only something of the past. He argues that although inequality is something that existed throughout American history, it has never reached the extent that we face today. He states, "There were periods like the Gilded Age in the 1890s and the Roaring Twenties and so on, when a situation developed rather similar to this, but the current period is extreme". This statement places a gap between our perception of inequality back in the day to not being so severe to something that is on a whole other level that we face currently. That is a very interesting thing to state because a core concept of the American Dream is that everybody has equal opportunity and thus there is equality within our country. But to point out the severe inequalities largely resulted by American policies supporting the extra-wealthy is ...

The divorce rate today in America is nearly at 50 percent. A lot of this is, I believe, is because when some couples argue, they have war with each other. An argument is seen as who can have the better argument, and that only one side is right. That doesn't really sound right for how couples should argue, or how anybody should argue at all for that matter. But unfortunately, that is not the only display of destructive arguments that we see in our everyday lives. In fact, it can be seen on your TV screen on a daily basis. Jones states in her article, "argument as collaboration is not the prevailing metaphor for public argumentation we see/hear in the mainstream media", and boy is that the truth.  The recent Trump win was one of the biggest upset presidential victories in American history. It surprised the whole country when the minimally-filtered Trump gained a four-year ticket to the white house. However, Trump's vicious facade towards his opponents during the pr...