I have often questioned how national identity could accurately depict the holistic diversity America. When I was younger I enjoyed watching the "School House Rock" musical cartoon series. It fascinated me to learn about the egalitarian ideals that constructed American society. I recall having been especially proud to know that I was a part of the "Great American Melting Pot." I sang the catchy tune from the cartoon until the age of fourteen or so. What I then thought was a representation of America as a utopia faded into my later realization that it was the unpromising symbol of ethnic, gendered and classist marginalization.
The melting pot that I learned about as a child - one in which ingredients are mixed to make some sort of wholesomely delicious soup - is the American reality. The soup is not a perfectly flavorful melange, though. It is, rather, a generic blend diluted by some overpoweringly tasteless ingredient. American identity thrives on the blurring of the distinct traits that define diversity - be it religious, sexual, political, ethnic or socioeconomic. It is this blurring that reflects the concealing of American systemic violence, the nation's failure to maintain an egalitarian society.
The media use this blurring of diversity to repress social reality, protecting social consciousness and reasserting an artificial American identity. Unyielding efforts to assert an artificial American identity premised on individualism, opportunism and diligence implicitly uphold a white patriarchical system. Such efforts have led to the permanency of racialized, gendered and classist barriers within the American social construct. The media exist within the framework of national ideals, ignoring societal ills that would disprove the stability of the framework. This is why the media ignore the reality of poverty, racism, sexism and classism. These are the pitfalls of democracy. The media exists as a monopoly, defining American thought to assert that we live in an egalitarian society void of problems.
There are many ways in which the media shapes national identity. Take its portrayal of the gaps between the rich and poor. The wealthy as a class does not exist; neither do the poor, for they have little jurisdiction in society. In ignoring the social realities of wealth and poverty, the media has created a universal middle class (also known as "Middle America"). Supposedly, we all belong to the middle class. Some people are "upper middle class," while others are "lower middle class" - whatever that means.
Yet how can the upper class be inexistent when one-third of news broadcasts are devoted to in-depth analyses of daily stock exchange activity? Can every "middle American" family host a "Super Sweet Sixteen" for its teenager? The common American does not invest in stocks nor has the funds to purchase the latest Range Rover for his or her child to park in the high school parking lot. Many Americans are struggling to meet ends. There is an impulse to conceal the upper class, a sense of guilt in the admission that a group exists and that it is hard to balance an egalitarian and capitalist society. The only time we do hear about wealthy individuals is when they "chase" the media for attention (Paris Hilton and Donald Trump, for example) - or when they are benefactors for private charities. Yet, this is our reality. It is not a form of entertainment. It is a reflection of American values.
The media present a dialogue between the "universal" middle class and the poor, who have been marginalized to nearly the point of "inexistence." Poverty is a serious issue in America. The media present the poor as a blameworthy group responsible for crime. They are the ugly eyesores that dirty urban environments, who have sold and abused drugs, stolen and robbed and assaulted and killed. I have often been in the company of individuals who have questioned why poor people cannot get jobs like everyone else. The problem is that the media misinforms us that poverty is not systemic, that it is an aberration of the American way of life. Such illusions attempt reinforce that we live in an ideal society.
The course that the United States has taken - and through which it continues to meander - is one of intriguing inconsistency. The meaning of the United States, and all that it encompasses, is constantly challenged, redefining its existence as a "model nation." At the core of this dilemma lies the alteration of basic American ideals - the commingling of humanism and materialism and the pitfall that has resulted. America is premised on freedom, equality and individuality but has compromised these basic principles in fostering a capitalist system that has become a key cohort for perverse politics. Political and economic agencies regulate power dynamics, essentially defining America. This has dichotomized social relations and understanding, fostering an oppressor versus oppressed relationship between monopolies and workers, men and women, heterosexuals and homosexuals, whites and non-whites and people who exist between these contrasting realms. That is the real America.
Renata Sago '10 is eating a big bowl of soup while watching the news.
