Distrust, Cynicism and the Questioning of the American Dream

The New York Times reported on April 30 1989 that Yale psychology professor Dr Jerome Singer and his wife also a psychologist found in an objective study that quotthe more television children watch the more likely they are to be restless and aggressivequot Having read the Singersamp8217 academic papers myself I also recall that the study indicated that the more TV news people watch the more likely they are to distrust the next strangerAs distrust grows a culture becomes cynical and pessimistic It has now become hip to snidely pour cold water on any positive statementIt was not just the mediaamp8217s fault The bad behavior by people in high places was always much easier to cover up than it is today Bad behavior by politicians makes it understandable that trust in government is going downSome of the distrust has to do with unfulfilled expectations In April 2022 I wrote quotThe most powerful cultural change driving world and personal events today is the underlying sense of loss of belief in the American Dream amp8230quotIamp8217m paraphrasing the words of Walker Smith former President of Yankelovich today at the Advertising Research Foundation ARF annual AUDIENCExSCIENCE conference The American Dream has always meant the hope aspiration and expectation that each generation would be better off than the preceding oneWalker showed compelling survey results to back up his point In countries where most progress has been made toward economic success social justice and the dignity of the individual he showed that after decades in which most people believed their kids would have it better than themselves today the majority believe that the kids will have it worseA later speaker at the conference showed a verbatim comment made by a Gen Z person indicating quotI no longer trust government other people or the worldquotquotThose who think interpersonal trust has declined in the past generation offer a laundry list of societal and political problems including a sense that Americans on the whole have become more lazy greedy and dishonest 49 of adults think interpersonal trust has been tailing off because people are less reliable than they used to bequot Pew Institute 2019A 2015 4A39s study found that 96 of consumers distrust advertisingBoth optimism and pessimism are biases less desirable than objectivity but between them one helps and the other hurts because any mindset becomes selffulfilling prophecy Itamp8217s the way our minds work Pessimism forces us down into the pit we feared Optimism gives us back the natural zest for life and enables us to overcome anythingThe late great American writer Joan Didion wrote that she experienced the snapping point in the dissolution of the American Dream The date was June 5 1968 Joan and her husband were in Hawaii in a night club when the singer Don Ho told the audience that Robert Kennedy had died at 1040pm Hawaii time Earlier that day the shooting had been reported Joan was struck by the indifference of the affluent Americans who wanted Don Ho to entertain them and became bellicose when instead he sang The Lordamp8217s Prayer To quote The New York Times article at the prior linkquotOne of the conventioneers jumped to his feet 39What are they singing a church song for39 he shouted At his table and those surrounding the other drycleaning salesmen and their wives chimed in 39What39s this church song for Why a church song39 Clearly they were drunk For Ms Didion the scene was surreal the women with their big bouffant hairdos and flower leis the men growing increasingly belligerent Then she noticed a young sailor nearby He was sobbingquotTwo months earlier Kennedy gave an impromptu speech to supporters after learning of the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jramp8217s murder quotWhat we need in the United States is not divisionquot he said quotbut love and wisdom and compassion toward one anotherquot Now he had been murdered too But the convention crowd at Duke Kahanamokuamp8217s refused to acknowledge the tragedy that had just been relayed quotThe whole thingquot Ms Didion told Ms Stein quotwas very charged It was a great conflict of everything and everybodyquotNo matter what your political feelings are if youamp8217re attached to the idea of the nation as a community if you feel yourself to be part of that community then obviously something has happened to that communityquot Ms Didion told Ms Stein quotIt seemed as if these people did not count themselves as part of the community That they came from another Americaquot They could heckle a praying singer They could watch The Lawrence Welk Show but ignore a political assassination The same economic system that put these specific Americans in the position to take this vacation the whitecollar stability the inequality sustaining it was what allowed them now to turn their backs They didnamp8217t really care about any of it the broader narrative of patriotism and pride was just an excuse for doing what they wanted for their selfinterest a narrative they could apply and discard from one situation to the next as they saw fitamp8221amp8220We tell ourselves stories in order to liveamp8221 Joan Didionamp8220What happens when those shared narratives start to unravelamp8221 Timothy DeneviForgetting the ethical obligations to the nation which creates these opportunities for personal success and hedonism Forgetting the social compact Turning away from sympathy with the USA leadership Joanamp8217s intuition was that some people could take America for granted and not accept the responsibilities that come along with loyalty to the USA Her experience was that the up and coming welltodo didnamp8217t care about the USA or were even aware of its significanceWhenever the turning point came most Americans today appear to have given up on being inspired by the American Noble Experiment or are afraid to publicly espouse it A recent study shows that expressing idealism and ethics in media garners more hate mail than support Being patriotic is no longer hip the way it was in WWII Loyalty to the American Dream to me is not just kneejerk nationalism The USA has pledged itself to raising the bar for human life on Earth Loyalty to that American Dream amp8211 the one that Washington Jefferson Franklin Lincoln all had not to mention the many others who lived and died to further the true American Dream amp8211 not just of prosperity but of justice for allWe have obviously not been communicating the American brand very wellIn the US House of Representatives the Code as regards insurrection reads as followsamp8220amp1672383 Rebellion or InsurrectionWhoever incites sets on foot assists or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof or gives aid or comfort thereto shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years or both and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United Statesamp8221June 25 1948 ch 645 62 Stat 808Pub L 103amp8211322 title XXXIII amp1673300161L Sept 13 1994 108 Stat 2147I respectfully propose that anyone who undermines the existing USA governmental system by lying about the 2020 election having been fraudulent andor incites violence andor advocates the overthrow of the legitimately elected present government andor against the system of laws in this country must be first be prevented by a gag order against further speech or communications of that kind and if that does not stop the person prosecution under the law for insurrection Regardless of their party affiliation if anyThis denies no one free speech according to the original intent of the Founders I very much doubt that George Washington would if in Bidenamp8217s shoes today tolerate hearing lies and further incenting to riot without taking effective action The US Constitution defines amp8220insurrectionamp8221 thuslyIn a constitutional democracy sedition and insurrection refer to inciting or participating in rebellion against the constitutionally established government its processes and institutions or the rule of lawBoth Constitutional and codified law confirm my stance that amp8220incitingamp8221 is a sufficient condition to jail an insurrectionist And permanently remove their right to public officeBending over backwards to be fair to everyone is the American way But that must be balanced with protecting the American system That is the responsibility of every American citizen It comes with the freedom and all the other good stuffWe better make taking responsibility hip againPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Distrust, Cynicism and the Questioning of the American Dream

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Bill Harvey

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Distrust, Cynicism and the Questioning of the American Dream

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