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Glass Half-Full People
Not such a sunny day for American optimismIf Lemuel Pitkin is supposed to be the quintessential American boy representing all that is the American dream, it makes me nervous to be an American (especially if Betty Prail is the American girl). Now I understand that Nathanael West was writing a satire during the Great Depression and things were different- unemployment was 25%, hoboism was basically an accepted way of life, and there was basically no end in sight. But since the economic downturn over a year ago, it seems like this could be a possibility. This economic situation has been compared to the Depression. Does that mean that we can be compared to the Lem and Betty?
I certainly hope not. A nation full of Lemuel Pitkins and Betty Prails would be a sorry place – people missing essential body parts and girls being raped time and time again both by men and the system, even if it is only metaphorical for what we are as a country. While we may not be exactly as the characters in A Cool Million, we as a nation are not without their key attribute – that of a gross amount of optimism.
A recent New York Times article commented on this frightening component of our American being: “Throughout the history of American commercial life, one cultural trait has tended to dominate: Americans are optimists, a people prone to seeing the glass as not merely half-full but rapidly expanding, and bearing liquid that might yet be turned into gold.” This optimism today has much the same effects that it had on Lemuel Pitkin - “Excessive optimism and its close relation — a reckless disregard of risk — are widely blamed for helping carry the United States into the worst financial panic since the Great Depression.”
For Lem his disregard of risk (i.e. getting into cars with strangers, involving himself in schemes that will lead to arrest or punishment) led to the mutilation of his body. For us, the disregard of risk led to a "casino culture" and the mutilation of our financial system. Perhaps Nathanael West was writing with a bit more insight than he had anticipated.
I think it's a little odd to
I think it's a little odd to equate optimism with a lack of knowledge, i.e. the Iraq War. I think that American optimism is sort of a nurture thing, a trait that is planted in us by our culture. There are plenty of pessimists in America, but everything about our institutions and our society and our language seems to be pointed forward. This is not the case with many other countries (in France, for example, "It's not bad" is considered very high praise), yet it is not only the optimistic countries that suffer economic corruption and downfall. Is our optimism really a cause of our misfortune?
Optimism or Ignorance?
I agree that Americans are often far too optimistic about the state of world affairs and their part in it, but I think this also stems from Ignorance, similar to Pitkin's lack of knowledge in A Cool Million. A lot of people were optimistic about the Iraq war, because they weren't educated enough by the media about what was really going on. But now with the disasters in Afghanistan, the pulling out of Iraq, the health care crisis, and the fall of the American economy, Americans have a lot less to be optimistic about. I wonder if this bubble of optimism will finally be popped after all, or if we will continue to always look at the bright side of life (reminds me of Monty Python sketch with Jesus and friends whistling happily on the cross.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo