Every time I close a window on one of my monitors I see an image that would be recognized immediately by anyone of a certain age–a puffy cloud summer day looking down the flag-flanked Court of Nations toward the Unisphere, surrounded by gushing fountains at the 1964-65 World's Fair. In the immediate foreground is another sixties icon, a women in white capri pants, raccoon-eyed from giant sunglasses. I went myself, at age eleven, and my Mom attended the previous "World of Tomorrow" shindig in 1939.
Both occasions evinced an exuberant optimism about the future, and about American possibilities. American power was seen as benevolent and widely respected; America's industrial might would build a better, more prosperous future for all. Yet both took place at very dark and fearful moments–the 1939 fair against the backdrop of the long decade of the Great Depression, and on the cusp of global war–the 1964 fair just two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, and one year after the assassination of a popular American president.
All of which makes it hard for me to understand the depth of today's malaise–the level of fear and rancor, the hopelessness in the face of the challenges of 2010. Whatever the threat posed by modern terrorism, it pales beside the threat of global nuclear annihilation, or the march of fascist armies across Europe and Asia. Whatever the pain of today's economic woes, it pales beside the trauma of the '30s Dust Bowl and bread lines.
And yet today it would be impossible to put together anything like the '64 Fair. It may just be that feelings are feelings, and are not susceptible to change by the facts, inconvenient or otherwise. Or it may be that too few of those who lived the traumas of the past are still around to make the comparison. Now that we are living in that "World of Tomorrow," it is the past which has become vague and dreamlike, instead.
Dale (and all) -
A guy named David Gelernter wrote a dazzling book about exactly your point – the lost worldness we feel – a decade back. It was called "1939: The Lost World Of The Fair," and it is very much worth reading.
(If the name of the author is familiar to you – he was one of the Unabomber's victims.)
best,
Scott A.
Watertown
Dale,
The problem with the American Dream is that people bought into a dream.
Too many thought it would just come to them as a birth right.
Dreams are fine but each and everyone of us needs our own dream and we need to take responsibility by working to fulfill our dream or dreams.
I rank the American Dream right up there with the "Anyone can become President" dream. Forget about the fact that very few people would want to become President and to wish it upon anyone borders on cruelty. If becoming President is a real dream for someone, their first dream should be to get some money.
But back to the American Dream. It can be real and can be achieved provided you are not after a one size fits all dream. It needs to be personal. It needs to be based upon an honest assessment of the talents you have and the talents you are willing to work for. It need not be a big house with a big yard. It can be simple and modest.
I'm reminded of a song, I think from the Talking Heads, where this man wakes up one day and wonders who he is, how did he get here, is this his house, is this his beautiful wife?
He may "have it all" but was it what he really wanted and needed?
Ending on a hopeful note, may I suggest these difficult times may help/force us to decide what is really important. Maybe it is time to stop and smell the roses, or in our case the scent of pine and autumn leaves.
Dang I want that wallpaper! Flushing Meadows in 1964 was magic, and perhaps the dying gasp of the "Streamlined Era" for our country. Here's my song contribution…
"Here at home we'll play in the city
Powered by the sun
Perfect weather for a streamlined world
There'll be spandex jackets one for everyone."
– Donald Fagan
A sobering and thought provoking Post. For what it's worth a main focus of concern for me is, and has been for some while, the emancipation of the working class. This, I believe, requires a NEW mode of production – is capitalism reaching its sell by date I wonder…..