Why American Life Is So Bleak
What Happens When a Society Becomes a Place Where No One Wins?
It’s almost spring. And do you know what my favorite thing is in the springtime? Paris. Avignon. Maybe Berlin. Barcelona. Pick a great European city, and springtime in it’s…beautiful. Breathtaking, even. People pour into the streets. Life roars back to life. But in America…well…things are different.
When I’m back in America, one thing always strikes me. American life is bleak. It’s…weirdly…joyless. Now, if you’ve only lived in America, you’ll be indignant. But come now. Is anybody in America really happy? Maybe… the billionaires? Anybody else?
So why is American life so bleak? What happened? What went wrong, exactly, on the way to building a modern society? You see, it’s not just my random opinion. Every statistic imaginable shows it to us. Young people are in crisis, depression and suicide skyrocketing. Families can barely make ends meet. The shattering loss of confidence in institutions and trust in society and between people is all too real. American life really is bleak. But why?
When I’m in Europe, it always strikes me how different it is from America. It’s not unusual to see art installation on the streets in the summer and springtime. Musicians playing, as irritating as that is for the people living…
