Updated: The American Dream is not Greed

Americans have gotten greedy.

We used to be a bunch of hard working, honest, big dreaming individuals. There were a few snake oil salesmen, a few manipulators, but the majority of people came to this country to escape preconceptions and make something for themselves. To work hard. To make a better life.

What happened? I've recently felt like the default American (at least here in LA) is going after a get rich quick scheme - and will fuck and screw and step on anyone who can help them or gets in their way. Used. Manipulated.

What can you sell? What can you do for me? How can we conspire to get people to buy into our hobbled together whatever so we can blow it up big and sell it to some huge company we can fleece for millions? Inflated value.

Look at this example. When I was in Iowa, my dad gave me a book to read. It was about Chief Blackhawk of the Sauk Indians. Blackhawk dictated his story to explain why he made war on the new settlers. The short story is the Americans stole his village from him so he fought to keep it.

American agents in St Louis said that some people from his tribe had signed a treaty giving their tribal lands east of the Mississippi in the area known as Illinois to the US, when there was no authority for this land to be sold. The Americans maintained this had been agreed and never allowed renegotiation with the Chief and leaders of the Sauk. There lots more backstabbing and badness and general miscommunication in the story. But the Native indians were trying to live. They weren't doing anything wrong. The local agent (who was supposedly friendly with the indians) bought all the land in the village and sold it off to new settlers, who encountered resistance when the local indians were told to leave their land.

The thing I took away in this account was how manipulative the Americans were. They really stole the land from the Native people. Americans were not the first white people to interact with native people. The French and British both traded and had good relations. I understood why the British asked the native indians to help them defeat the colonists. I think what would have been different if Napoleon had not sold the Louisiana Purchase. (Sold because N needed some cold hard cash because of his unsuccessful Russian campaign.)

So, where does Greed come from? And how did we get so greedy?

A few greedy assholes ruin it for everyone. Mostly because others see what greedy people are doing and want a piece of it. That's why/how the SoCal Real Estate bubble got so big. That's how come many stupid internet ideas get millions of dollars. Hell, that's the whole reason VCs exist - it's not to fund, support and launch the most cutting edge innovative what will make humans happy and improve our world. It's greed that keeps mashups illegal. It's greed that Brazil fought when it broke laws to produce overpriced patented HIV medicine. 

What does it take for people to do the right thing? (self-awareness and personal evolution) And if I'm surrounded by people who are not doing the right thing, how long will I hold out? (or get de-motivate, depressed and go into hermit hiding.) how long until it all goes to shit? (or we move the cards around on the table.) And what a long hard path to humility and setting things right.

Do we have the balls to even do that anymore - or have we found ourselves in a cage - pets in the American hegemony?

Update: I just watched Dan Ariely's TED talk and he does a great job explaining exactly why my complaint occurs.

Comments

[G]

Heather -

I can't help but agree with you. It does seem as if the world has changed (at least from our sepia-toned memories). At my age, 51, I see my cohort (and the baby-boomers immediately before me) grab as much as they can, without regard to whom or what gets harmed in the process.

The generation prior (WW II, Korean War) seems to be a little more balanced - but then they got to live through a massive national effort to stave off Nazism.

My main hope is that we can figure out a way to work together as a people to dig ourselves out of the crap we found ourselves in. I'm only moderately optimistic. When politicians and businesses continue to play zero sum games with the population, I fear that our worst instincts just seem to overwhelm our better ones.

That being said, it is important to remember that there are good people in this milieu - not everyone is completely greedy.

[Heather]

G - I completely agree. And I have a follow-up to this post. I found the ungreedy. :)

[Greg]

The only hope is that the world is comprised of at least 51% goodness. Or, as my dear friend so eloquently pointed out: "The world is just about equal parts shit and diamonds. Its a dark night out there as we wander. And its up to each of us what we choose to shine our flashlights on."

And in the spirit of balance, while I concur that greed is a very American vice, having travelled all over the world and listened to many many different perspectives on America, there are great values here too. Creativity, for one. Opportunity, another. As other cultures learn from our virtues, perhaps we can learn from theirs as well.