Aesthetics and Progress
Think about how happy you are when you’re on vacation. You’re in some tropical paradise where the water is clean and blue, the sun is bright, the breeze is warm, and you’re surrounded by nature. Then think about going to work in some smoggy city with billboards and posters everywhere and loud music and shouting piercing your eardrums. It’s depressing to be in an environment that in itself is depressed, in essence; that’s aesthetics. In everyday applications a lot of things are designed to be pleasing to the eye and the ear, but how much of it really is anymore? Everything is louder, bigger, more obnoxious, just to be noticed and drive sales.
Do poor people live in shoddy, run-down neighborhoods in dilapidated houses just because they’re poor? Probably. But do they remain in that state, sometimes for life, because they’re incapable of advancing themselves or being successful? Might their surroundings and the aesthetics associated with them keep them in check mentally and keep them from having the energy to better themselves? Conversely, do rich people have the energy and drive they do to rake in more and more success throughout their lives because they’re in some way better than people with smaller incomes? Sure, skills and competency play the major factor in earning potential, but if those high-earning job holders had to listen to booming sub-woofers and police sirens all night long while sleeping on a futon in a studio apartment, do you think they’d still wake up at 7 AM for pilates and a protein shake before they head into the office?
There are all sorts of urban projects for beautification and cleaning up lower-class neighborhoods, and they have some positive results, but is that really enough? More people are being held back by societal circumstances than just those living in the ghetto. What’s to blame for their misfortune? The only thing that leaves the ghettos and makes its way into every other area without anyone thinking twice about it is today’s culture. Sure, you may not see many people in Beverly Hills pushing shopping carts full of garbage down the sidewalk and smoking crack in an alley; the sub-cultural trends aren’t strong enough to travel that far. But when it comes to the average American aesthetic, does no one’s mind entertain the possibility that a nation in debt will breed a people in debt?
Not only does our nation have a lot of financial problems, but it’s got an ego problem as well. It thinks it’s got the responsibility of intervening in almost every conflict overseas, it’s under the impression that it has the moral high ground in terms of knowing what kind of system is the most “free” compared to other nations, and it shows favoritism towards the rich and corporations. Now don’t get me wrong, America has plenty of great aspects compared to other nations out there as well, but on the whole we are perceived in the international playing field as a rootin’ tootin’ cowboy. The wild west being a uniquely American time and culture, that’s how a lot of nations see us. We won’t take no for an answer and can’t admit when we’re wrong, if everyday people see and hear about all of this on the news every day, is it that crazy to think that they might pick up on some of it themselves?
What am I calling for? I don’t know. I’m not really calling for anything, per se. I just want to see more people happy and successful. The financial system, our culture, the media – all of these things can either make or break a nation just as well as its people. If we can’t get ourselves under control we can’t get our nation under control and vice versa, it’s the same vicious cycle as living poorly because you’re poor. Nothing worthwhile is easy – that’s an idea that’s really ringing true these days – but big ideas can always start small. Just because someone lives in a certain area or works a certain kind of job doesn’t mean they have to fit in with everyone else among them. Someone successful who makes a good salary and lives in a high-class area doesn’t have to be a snob, just like someone on the other end doesn’t have to act and think every day like they’re a hood just because they live in the hood.
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