The American Nightmare

Greetings, Internet!

First of all, I need to say that I'm sorry for posting this a little late. Second, my right hand is asleep, so forgive me for any typ[s in the post.

Terkel VS Alger. Wow. What a difference. At first glance, both seem to be stories of individuals rising up from the lowly roots of their existence to the pinnacle of American capitalism. But there is a major difference.

In Alger's work, Ragged Dick, the main character, Dick, has a lucky break and gets a nice, fluffy job in an accounting office. He makes a big point of helping others get to their future fluffy job, and is very careful not to step on anyone on his way to the top. He is, in a nutshell, that unbearably perfect person who won't let anyone fail.

But that is where the day/night difference comes from. In Terkel's work, the biography of Stephen Cruz, Cruz works his way to the top as well. He does it through elbow grease rather than pot-luck, but he makes it. He's also the (not quite as perfect) kind of person who wants to help others get to the top. What he finds, though, is that "the man", management, keeps the people he's trying to help (i.e. other Mexicans, African-Americans, Chinese, etc.)from getting to the top. In other words, the system for everyone to succeed simply doesn't exist, so Cruz can't help, say, the bootblack with slow business.

In Ragged Dick, the main character lives in a cartoon world where disconformity (leaping into the river) is rewarded with promotions. In the reality that I hope we all live in, disconformity is rewarded with pink slips. Conformity is rewarded with promotions and advancement. The kinds of people who wind up as CEOs, it turns out, are almost all tall, white, protestant males. And so they want the same kinds of people to serve under them.

When we begin to get so caught up in the PC world of today (thats politically correct, not Personal Computer), we start to loose some of the liberty we think we enjoy in America in return for not offending anyone. I can't publish just anything, if its offensive to some people.

I'm going to stop now. Good bye!