The Quintessential American
Problem
by Andrés Mata
land where you can have a population of nearly 80% Hispanics
or Latinos live in a portion of a city called Korea Town;
essentially, a melting pot of different cultures, something
America takes pride in. But let’s dissect it further: what
draws all these different cultures together to this land?
The so called “American Dream”. I would not know what the
appeal is, seeing that my family and I have been in America
for generations; But also take heed the well known saying:
“The grass is greener on the other side.” What is causing
America to rot from the inside?
Simple: I D I O C Y
Seeing that I am only 18, I have yet to experience the
corporate environment in which many people are simply
working to serve the economy, and choose not to tackle a
subject that I know little about, but only know that I am
being trained and conditioned for it in “school”, I prefer
to talk about a subject that I am quite familiar with like
my fellow teenagers.
Growing up in a culture that is different of that of our
parents, American or otherwise, is a difficult task indeed.
Stereotypes are being are thrown at us from more mediums
than ever before, thanks to the recent optimized
utilizations of medias, old and new, such as tv shows,
movies, music, video games, and internet, which in turn
helps advertise the previously mentioned mediums as well as
its own. You can do all of the above from the simple comfort
of the recently “invented” iPod touch, Zune HD, etc. Combine
that with statistics that say that most teenagers, including
myself, are spending close to 10 hours a day on electronic
devices, you have the closest to voluntary brain washing you
can get to without threat of death. It’s the same how
trainers and coaches are saying that what matters in the
hours that you practice or train is what you put into it;
it’s also the same with how the saying goes that “you are
what you eat”.
Now many of you are probably
thinking: What in the world does this have to do with idiocy
in America?
Even more simple.
The content that’s going into those ours. Movies and music
primarily are providing my fellow teens with anthems and
illogical advice for teenage infatuation; the internet
allows us to excerpt what we find “applicable” to us and
share it with our peers, who are doing the same. I am no
exception to this. What has really intrigued me as of late
is the new trend to call the majority of people in your
class and city as “idiots” in a naïve and uneducated attempt
at cynicism. Yet those teenagers claiming to hate “everyone”
are, more times than not, listening to the same music as
those “idiots”, dressing the same way, talking the same way
etc. Don Jibaro said it best: “Singer-songwriters who write
these lyrics earn their living by pretending to reveal their
innermost personal turmoil over the way love has hurt them,
which creates a false standard that people use as a
guideline on how to behave in interpersonal relationships.”
Today’s top artists have taken lessons from the fortune
cookie and the horoscopes: easily misinterpreted and generic
advice that is seen as applicable to almost every situation.
Money is usually seen as corrupting, yes? Then those “top”
artists are most likely more focused on creating music for
mass consumption (read: sale) than music that results and is
crafted from their own experiences that people can learn and
grow from.
Now imagine being attacked by
situations like the above, but by every entertainment medium
possible.
And the few that are not a part of those stereotypes
mentioned are either young teenagers like myself that see
through the nonsense of life itself are those who’ve been excluded
from being part of the popular crowd in school and have the
intellect to ask and find out at such a young age why we’re
not allowed, or the jaded veteran who’s been through it all
and has the interest to look back at his experiences with
the newfound 20/20 vision that hindsight gives its viewers.
Looks like the American government doesn’t need guns and
guards on every street corner to keep us in check. They
already have their tool: perpetuating idiocy in the form of
mass consumption through every medium possible.
Welcome to America.
Ooops!
¡Ooooye!
GO
BACK
donjibaro@gmail.com
