this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 54 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Poll: American brainwashing and indoctrination still effective on 36% of voters.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I have been an American my entire life and I don't even know what the American dream is supposed to be.

I was taught about the nuclear family concept and how everyone was supposed to have 2.5 kids. The mothers cooked at home all day. The fathers worked all day and then got just drunk when they weren't working. Sounds like the ideal life, no?

Maybe the last thing I might of heard about the American Dream was from a Budweiser commercial. I dunno. I suspect that our immigration process here still has some of that propaganda baked into it.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Didn't George Carlin say "Thats why they call it the American Dream: you have to be asleep to believe it!'

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago

It was true then, it’s true now

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Yes he did.

(NSFW - language)

[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago

Is this the same 35-ish percent that always thinks Trump is the greatest?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Like some other commenters, I'm surprised it's that high.

To me the "American Dream" consists of, if you work hard, we'll take care of you. And if you participate in civil society you'll get a civil politics that works for you. The first is completely dead for way more than 64% of people, although there are little sparks of it coming back somewhere at the end of this road that UAW and friends are starting on. The second is still alive a lot more than people realize (observe the progress in abortion referendums and sensible people taking back school boards) but it's definitely under threat as well.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The actual American dream is to be injured enough that you get millions in a lawsuit, but not so bad that it disrupts your life very much.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

This is...kind of sadly true. Injury or strike big as an influencer.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Im willing to bet most of those 36% were born during or before the 1960s and already got their slice of the pie

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago

Looks like 35% of Americans still have yet to wake the fuck up.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Corollary: 64% of Americans convinced the American dream is dead.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Well, it is.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What even is the “American Dream”?

At this point it’s like Blast Processing or NFTs.

It’s all marketing, no explanation. The “American Dream!” they shout alongside other empty slogans and quotes. A million quotes about George Carlin and “you need to be asleep to believe in it.” Believe in fucking what!!?

Of course you have to be asleep to believe in it, because the idea is like a fucking fever dream. Something everyone has a vague idea about, but doesn’t fully remember or understand. And there’s a lot of contradictions.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

The notion that anyone who works hard enough can achieve financial ascendence in America.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'm really sure when I was a kid, I the American Dream meant owning a house and a car. Am I misremembering that?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'd always heard it as a more abstract form of social mobility. In my childhood, I had probably 100 people tell me something along the words of "if you work hard, you can be/do anything you want." A complete lie, by the way.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

if hard work lead to wealth, donkeys would be the richest creatures on the planet.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

That's what I was raised to believe. But minimum wage hasn't kept pace with inflation and rent has spiraled out of control. I'm astounded that 57% of Americans cannot handle a $1000 emergency expense. It's very hard to save enough for a down payment just going on salary alone.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

I'd say the American dream exists but the abuse you must take is unimaginable. My family came here with very little and worked horrible minimum wage jobs. I climbed my way up from horrible manual labor jobs, to call center to tech support to engineer. If you have passion and you're dedicated to your craft you'll be well compensated. But it's much more difficult than it should be. For me it took a lot of studying, politicing, and some lost respect for myself. Now I get to complain about my desk job and drink beer at live music bars to forget about work.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

Of that 36%, what do you reckon the split is on people who are genuinely dumber than a sack of hair vs. people who have a financial incentive to lie about their belief in the American dream?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Assuming the poll is accurate, I'm shocked that there is even more than 10% of people who believe it holds true.

Then again, the US is obviously known for housing the absolute smartest population out of any country. I mean, all Americans are surely 200 IQ mega geniuses. /s

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


A similar Journal poll last year that asked whether those who work hard are likely to get ahead in the U.S. found 68 percent agreed.

Half of respondents in the new poll said the economic system is “stacked against” them and said life is worse for the average American now than 50 years ago.

The drop in confidence appears to have hit younger people and women the hardest, with nearly half of men and older-than-65 respondents standing by the American dream, while just less than 30 percent of women and people under 50 felt the same, according to the poll.

Individuals interviewed by the Journal cited the falling importance and benefits of unions and inflation as some reasons they felt less confident in economic mobility.

But the survey also comes at a time when the U.S. economy has consistently performed above expectations, so far avoiding a recession that financial analysts saw as inevitable months ago.

The same survey found that 35 percent of voters rated the economy’s performance as good or excellent, a large increase from 20 percent in March of this year.


The original article contains 308 words, the summary contains 183 words. Saved 41%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Onlyfans will get you closer to the American dream that more than 90% of other professions.

If you dont have capital to start with and you want to work hard with a chance of making a social class changing amount of money, make an OF or get really good at a sport maybe.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

The vast majority of people on only fans make under 200$ a month. Like high 90%s. Even that is a dream for most people lol. It's like a few people getting rich while thousands of others are maybe making 100 bucks here and there selling nudes to creeps. Sounds real nice.