Seattle Bubble Forum Archive

.
An excellent article IMHO. It is well worth reading.



......American anxiety springs from something much deeper, a sense that large and disruptive forces are coursing through the world. In almost every industry, in every aspect of life, it feels like the patterns of the past are being scrambled. "Whirl is king, having driven out Zeus," wrote Aristophanes 2,400 years ago. And—for the first time in living memory—the United States does not seem to be leading the charge. Americans see that a new world is coming into being, but fear it is one being shaped in distant lands and by foreign people.......

It is a good read, and it's accurate, and we need to get over it. I think a lot of this comes down to a very deep seated American attitude. I'm not talking about freedom, and I'm not talking about independence. I'm talking about the national obsession with "being #1".

The problem, is that many Americans are not interested in staying on top. They take it for granted. If you want a great society, you have to encourage people to become the professions that a good society needs most. You need to make role models out of doctors, engineers, honest politicians, police officers, and trade workers. You have to applaud the good work done by community leaders. You have to respect leaders who are working towards solutions even if you dislike some of their beliefs (especially if the beliefs you dislike are morally relativistic and have no bearing on their actual job). Instead, we have a society where the best a man can do is be an athlete and the best a woman can do is be an actress. And this attitude more than sums up why other nations are catching and surpassing America in many domains.

But I also think this article has really missed a point. Let's be honest here, if I can squeak out an existence that is at least as good as my parents did, then things are moving in the right direction. You can't define that as just "a bigger TV" either. A better existence should be better in every way. If I can have an extra 5 minutes of spare time a day, live in a house that is a little bit more comfortable, eat food that is a little bit better, and have relationships that are a little bit easier to maintain, then I've won. The malaise I see isn't because other countries have taller buildings, it's because things are really not better than a generation ago in many of the most fundamental ways. People feel busier than every, and they are finding less lasting relationships than they used to. Even if the homes are getting larger and the food fresher (debatable with the recent shortages), our society is moving backwards in some real ways.

Good comments RCC. I would like to also add that because the US has been #1 in so many things since WWII that Americans have grown accustomed to that status and have developed a "sense of entitlement" to a relatively affluent lifestyle. That "entitlement" is being challenged now by the changing world economy and as a result I believe alot of Americans feel that the US "is on the wrong path" and that the country is deteriorating.

Why should being "on top" matter at all? Do the Danes, Dutch, or New Zealanders care that their countries are puny players on the world stage? Maybe a little, but they are forced to accept it and nevertheless go about building happy prosperous lives.

So what if other countries are becoming more prosperous and/or powerful? Americans can still lead productive happy lives regardless.

It shouldn't matter. My point is that one part of the American social DNA is that being #1 seems to matter to *us. Look around, what happens when a team doesn't win? The Mariner's team that won 116 regular season games is remembered for not even making the world series, rather than for all the good times during that summer when they were mostly winning every series. The 2005 Seahawks are remembered for losing the Super Bowl more than they are remembered for winning 15 other games.

But let's not bog down on sports. How happy is Boeing if they aren't #1 in the world? Somehow, it's night and day different if Boeing sells 7% more planes than Airbus, as opposed to things being the other way around. Microsoft can have a multi-billion dollar business, but they seem unhappy if any other company leads them in even one segment of that business. Whether it be web browsers, online search, mp3 players, video game consoles (well they don't seem to care *that much about video games), or even document formats (yes they care if you use their published "standard" as opposed to someone else's standard).

Is that too big of a scale? How about keeping up with the Jones'? Let's be fair, with a family of 4, unless they are all 8' tall and 400 lbs, a 2500 sq ft house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms is 100% completely reasonable. Adding extra space doesn't really buy you that much better of an existence. But don't tell your neighbors that, because they don't want to hear it. And if their neighbor can afford a BMW on a similar salary, then they must be able to get a new car too.

This competitive streak and worship for being on top is part of our culture. Either we get past it, find a way to stay on top, or the malaise will just become more profound.

* us meaning a large percentage of Americans.

The problem is that many life situations are a "winner take all" situation.

#1 gets everything.

#2 gets nothing.

Being #1 can be vitally important for long term success and happiness.

In one way I'm looking forward to a long-term downtrend of the US. During "good" times, more wild land is scraped off for buildings & roads, and it's sad for me to see that.

I always read about how people are busier than ever, and I see it with some people, but haven't experienced it myself. I think it's more of a choice, not a necessity. People don't always have to answer the phone, for example. A trick I think is to embrace technology that improves life (like auto bill pay), while shunning stuff that makes it more harried (like online chat and text messaging).

When I grew up food was in terrible shape, covered with pesticides and getting worse with genetic modification (i.e. built-in pesticides). Now you can get loads of organic stuff, assuming it's really organic. There are forums like this one, where we be entertained discussing esoteric topics with strangers. These and other improvements can keep our standard of living increasing even as the US edges down in the stats.

I'm with you on that one, Markor. Let that which does not matter truly slide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boj75h3urLU