BLOG 1

Kristof, U.S.A., Land of Limitations?

Quotes 

Kristof’s article, “USA Land of Limitations?”, addresses the opportunity inequitable people face in America. He fears, “By 2015 we’ve become the socially rigid society our forebears fled, replicating the barriers and class gaps that drove them away.” In today’s climate, Kristof’s fears have come to fruition. The ideology that every American has equal opportunity to enjoy the “good life” is untrue because the “American dream” is very much dead. These ideals of the past instilled hope and optimism within the people of our country. Our nation is built entirely upon immigrants, uprooting their entire lives for the promise of one thing; opportunity. Opportunity is the key ingredient in gaining success, and now only a certain portion of us have access to it. Now, there is so much required to even be considered the right to earn the American Dream. The gap between the richest and the poorest in our country continues to widen. Kristof notes that “many successful Americans ‘don’t get’ the gulf income.” Many people, particularly the rich, deny that unequal distribution of wealth even exists. The demographic of people who reject this believe we live in a meritocratic social system, meaning that advancement within our society is based on individual performance, talent, effort, and achievement, as opposed to wealth or social class; meanwhile, these in fact are the greatest success factors in our country. In other words, “Some think success is all about ‘choices and ‘personal responsibility,’ Yes those are real, but it’s so much more complicated than that.” Those who carry this belief are living in an artificial reality, blind to the very real limitations that make succeeding in this country near to impossible for most.