We Lie to Ourselves to Survive the Dystopian American Life
We live in denial because it’s easier than facing our reality — for now.
There’s a brick wall around my high school. It wasn’t there in the 90s, but school shootings weren’t as prevalent then. I wonder if anyone realizes walls keep people in and out, and they won’t protect us from a broken society because we are the cracks within the foundation, but I already know the answer. Everyone knows our quality of life has decreased over the last thirty years, but not everyone accepts it.
My brother’s neighbor chose to end his life rather than face $20,000 in back-rent, and that’s only one of many Covid induced debt suicides. Oxycontin victims and mental health survivors scream at the godless streets, and Los Angeles County provides porta-potties for the families living in trailers hitched to SUVs. Meanwhile, women in their fifties walking their dogs and belongings search for a place to sleep along the crowded sidewalks.
Homeless camps decorate the streets as far as the eye can see, but there isn’t a housing shortage. Los Angeles’ sprawl expands to the hills occupied by coyotes, foxes, and mountain lions. The lack of habitat forces the displaced animals to roam the city’s streets, but the construction of the overly priced, fire and mudslide-prone dwellings persist. So, pets disappear nightly while dog walkers battle early morning attacks, and somehow, the coyotes are the problem — not humanity.
LA mayor candidates care about the homeless because the unsightly encampments and crime impact small businesses and homeowners, but everyone knows poverty will continue to worsen. More Americans become impoverished every year, and instead of evaluating our economic structure, we briefly discuss taxing the rich — as if that’ll happen. Pursuing wealth is our national identity; our culture worships money and capital more than people.
Consumerism isn’t a substitute for deteriorated living standards, yet countless Amazon vans deliver goods to the watchful porch cameras. The short-term euphoric fix distracts us from the inevitable cyclical financial crash, but the newness excitement doesn’t last long, and another crisis is around the corner. We might as well feel “rich” while we can because there’s nothing else to value, and we rather buy cheap products than a national liveable wage.
The inflation and debt crisis aren’t impacted by the billions spent on weapons for Ukrainians, but the military isn’t a public good or service. Rent, property, gasoline, and food prices reach all-time highs, and no one demands government-regulated price caps because we think about corporate profits before we think of ourselves. Years of conditioning taught us business growth is a sign of a healthy economy, and we turn a blind eye to the visual evidence stating otherwise.
Watching the public react to the media offers the most informative news, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an Oscar for the newscasters because they’ve outdone themselves. After forgetting about Afghanistan for 19 years, the media reminded us of the brutal war when the Pentagon finally admitted defeat and decided to withdraw. The internet “posting war” captured the public’s impulsive outrage and support for military intervention, and the war machines knew how to sell us a new conflict.
Political influencers and the media order the mob to call out anyone questioning the narrative, and no one notices the “Putin’s-work” irony? Everyone saw the George Floyd video, the January sixth tantrum, the inequality, and the last 70 years of our history. We made sure to inflict American culture on the globe, and the world has watched us disintegrate for decades. Yet, we think acting like united Americans will trick Russia into believing…?
The world’s majority knows the crumbling Western empire reignited the flame with the East to save itself, and the American Experiment failed, but what do poor, dark-skinned people know? We don’t hear their voices or care to acknowledge their existence, and our white-filtered media claims they love American democracy — it must be true. One narrative ensures we only receive one story, and we don’t seek opposing views because we like hearing “good news.”
Why listen to the Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans who support their dictator governments — they don’t know anything. We trust our news sources so much we don't bother reading official documents or learning about the CIA’s adventures abroad. Whatever’s fed to us is all we need to know, and there isn’t a world outside of the US. It’s the best nation on earth, so we don’t compare our quality of life to foreign countries. Besides, they don’t have the biggest military protecting them, and that’s worth the lack of life-saving healthcare.
US poverty doesn’t look any different than the slums in India, and our outdated infrastructure collapses like China’s in the 90s. We are the unhealthiest developed nation, and by many standards, we aren’t developed. Fascist uprisings coincide with economic failures, and the standard of living worsens every year, but as long as the media focuses on the view we want to see, we won’t know any better. After all, we threw facts out the window years ago, and we prefer the “build your own adventure” lifestyle.
