the passing of the american dream

by david ball

I was watching ABC one Friday evening and this one commercial caught my attention. It was a couple of people standing around a store at night, just staring at a building. Cars would drive up, someone would approach them and then ask, "What's the problem?" to which they would get the response, "It's closed." The remainder of the advertisement focused on a few more people coming up to those gazing at the closed down store to get the same response. Thirty seconds of this built up to a message, "Amazon.com changed the way people shop and HP technology made it possible."

Obviously, the closed down store was a local book retailer and Amazon.com was the reason why it had been closed down. I find something seriously wrong here and I was infuriated by this advertisement for Hewlett Packard and Amazon.com.

It's not a big surprise that America has shifted to an extremely large industrial and corporate country. The money the United States possesses controls large markets in the global economy. Sadly enough, this corporate system has grown to a machine much larger than itself. It has now worked its way into every facet of American life.

The American political system, for instance, is comprised of those who can raise the millions it costs to get their name known to the American public. Millions are spent on campaign costs to tour the country in extravagant tour busses and high glamour rallies, not to mention the millions spent on television advertisements and mail-outs bashing opposing candidates and their policies. Politics are no longer about who has the best ideas, but rather who can raise the most money to push their face, name, and party so that they can obtain a majority vote which is mostly compromised of ignorant choices based on recognition.

Online mega-sites such as Amazon.com and cdnow.com weaken the local stores that do their best to survive in a market that is no longer about idea but rather marketing. Consumers become more ignorant about the minds behind the product as they are no longer viewed as customers but as victims.

Meanwhile the Wal-Mart super centers, McDonalds franchises and online giants slowly weed out the small, independently owned local businesses of our cities. The American dream is slipping further and further away as it becomes harder to push your idea when opposed by the large businesses already controlling the local and national scene.

It exacerbates the tragedy when companies such as Hewlett Packard and Amazon.com proudly announce on national television the fact that they're doing it. Perhaps this system of online purchasing and industrial mega-giants is much more detrimental than we've ever imagined. They aren't denying the fact that they're doing it. We shouldn't be either.

Copyright © 2000 David Ball. All Rights Reserved.

David Ball is a student at the University of Central Florida studying graphic design. He refuses to believe in American realism and ideology and continues to make all of his purchases offline.