Real American Dreams by Kathleen Stewart - Essay Example

In Kathleen Stewart’s “Real American Dreams (Can be Nightmares)” is a poignant representation of the concept of “we” in a society indicative of groups. There is the yearning for an “ideal society” but, those who already achieve a material status that could give them one, become so ingrained in their properties and accumulations that they begin to suspect their fellows to be always on the lookout for their properties or wealth. There is a perceived threat from those whom the individual (or his group) from “outsiders” or “others.”

Questions:
What does Stewart seem to be suggesting about the people of the "hollers" sense-making of this moment of late capitalism?
There seems to be a parallel between Mooer’s (2003) representation of the ‘visible” and the “invisible” of which the wealthy lives apart and seem not to notice those who do not belong to their social and material circle. As Mooer (2003) put it.

Are the behaviors of this group similar to our own? Come up with examples.

The behaviors of this group mirror our present society, where status is dependent on one’s income and where there is a never-ending want to get whichever a person with more has. People have an innate concern and yearning for “equality” with those who are beyond their class, their reach, and their “circle.”

One example of this is the overwhelming desire for leaders to have their supplies of crude oil, so that they aspire to own or control islands, occupy countries, and wage war to own or control the natural source of crude oil.

Is the rhythm of "dreams" and "eruptions" a good description of how we inhabit our contemporary cultures?

Yes, it seems to me that the rhythm of dreams and eruptions best describes how we inhabit our contemporary cultures.  As already mentioned, there is paranoia about “war” when those who have, leaders who speak of war and terrorism could not even point out who actually did a crime, or if the cause of the crime was actually to wage war. In the political spectrum of things, people in a certain area get threatened with things like “terrorism”, displacement, and loss of a luxurious source of income or job to the “perceived” others. This is definitely mirrored in our contemporary political, social, and economic events as policies are questioned, long-guarded constitutional rights are challenged and stepped on, and so forth.

It does not end with encircling an individual his person, and immediate family, but it does come from that desire, to preserve a once-earned status of “security” brought by the accumulation of wealth.

The “hollering” reaches a point where policies on race relations, and displacement of jobs overseas, among other things, are questioned. This situation also confuses the individual or his group as to what matters most, his priorities: is it security from the “eruption” of another terrorist act, or protecting a “private” self?

How would you describe "dystoposthesia"?

As I understand, dystoposthesia would be a displacement, a corruption or improvisation of the word “dystopia” that means “an imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror,” (Farflex, 2006). Already, as “terrorism” and the promotion of wars elsewhere outside the “hollers” territory become the trend, it acutely represents a real-life scenario: scanners in airports, disclosure of even individual bank accounts, mysterious disappearance of a family member, or even a whole family.

All these things cause paranoia beyond compare which the US community is experiencing at the moment and it is not funny.

Could "dystoposthesia" be described as an "eruption" in Stewart’s sense of the word?

Yes, I believe that dystoposthesia is an eruption of something that is avoided but expected by most American citizens.