A ‘Fast New World’

Do we, as citizens of this nation, have time to give serious consideration to where we are headed or are we just allowing circumstances to determine the direction that we are going? Do we think about how our Fast New World is changing us, and what the future will bring if we just “go with the flow?” Have we thought about our priorities and goals — the ones that we think would be best to follow to promote the well-being of all Americans? Does anyone (especially our politicians) take time to think about these things or is the inclination to just go along with whatever our manic, greedy, market-worshipping culture will take us?

For instance, have we seriously considered what the constant distraction and involvement with electronic media is doing to our children’s brains (and ours)? “While we are fascinated by the novelties of the Fast New World … we are psychologically ill-equipped for the overcharged lifestyles they promote … the strain of unbridled manic pursuit, whether we enjoy it of not, is damaging to both health and happiness.” — Whybrow.

Has it occurred to us that the frantic pace that so many families follow is preventing the kind of relaxed and fruitful interaction with children that helps them develop empathy and compassion and how to interact (in person) in a positive and productive way? How is this lack of family closeness, community connection, relaxing time to spend with friends, affecting the fabric of our nation? As Whybrow wrote: “Particularly troubling is the preoccupation with individual wealth and the mania that are promoted by our Fast New World are weakening the essential roles of family and community in shaping the cultural beliefs and empathetic understanding that are vital to the health and happiness of future generations.”

How many realize that so much emphasis on appearance, celebrity and obsession with material accumulation has encouraged corporate interests to brazenly intrude in our lives? Thanks to “Citizens United,” corporate interests are increasingly influencing government in ways not conducive to our health and welfare. Are we happy with the way such interests essentially have control of our politicians? Giroux offers: “American society is driven by unrestrained market values in which economic actions and financial exchanges are divorced from social costs, further undermining any sense of social responsibility.”

As the Fast New World overtakes the lives of so many Americans, are we giving enough thought to how so many of the working and middle classes are underpaid or losing their jobs and, as a result, their homes and health insurance? Is it OK to allow more and more people fall through the cracks in the safety net as the gap between the wealthy and middle and lower classes keeps increasing and so many of the wealthy are loathe to part with even a little of their booty even in a time of national crisis? Do we adequately appreciate the future implications of the campaign to provide more tax cuts for the wealthy? 

How does the American Dream apply today? Is it going full tilt to “make it” and become wealthy — striving for and accumulating all the accoutrements thereof? Is it believing that the American Way is the only way and we should put pressure on everyone to be like us? Or is it living in a country and community in which we look out for each other and we all have an opportunity for a decent life?

The big question: How is the Fast New World preventing us from paying adequate attention to how so many of the above issues affect us? As Giroux wrote: “The greatest threat to young people … comes from societies that refuse to invest in their children, that permit millions of families to vanish into poverty, that reduce creative learning to mind-deadening testing programs, that promote policies that eliminate crucial health care and public services, and define masculinity through the degrading celebration of gun culture, extreme sports and the spectacles of violence that permeate corporate controlled media productions.”

Since 1984, Dorothy Dimitre has written more than 1,000 columns for various local newspapers. Her email address is gramsd@aceweb.com.