The Hidden Truths Behind America

The American daily lifestyle has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Many people blame this drastic change of cultural norms on society becoming too digitally inclined, and or on modern American politics, but going down further there can be another source found. The goal of this paper is to sort out the articles that are excerpted from the anthology Mirror on America by Joan T. Mims and Elizabeth Nollen, as well as Living It Up by James B. Twitchell and Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture by Arthur Berger into two separate groupings to compare and contrast the differences and similarities between the articles.The collection of articles is written by various authors that explore the ideas of American cultural identity, consumerism, and advertising. Each author uses their own unique examples to help create a distinct focal point in the American society. Despite the differences of the authors' concepts of American society, there are connections that can be made. These connections can be grouped into the themes personal desires and segmentation vs.unification.

The first grouping of articles are about diversity and cultural identity and correspond with the theme of segmentation vs. unification. People think that America is a very diverse nation, but in reality, America is not as diverse as many people depict it as. In fact looking into communities around America, one can see that there are sections to where people live. The main cause of this segmentation is because people feel more comfortable around other people that we are familiar with. This makes people segregate with people who are like them and creates a community that has its own unique identity. Brooks explains this concept in his article, open a motor home dealership in Montgomery County, Philadelphia, you'd probably go broke think RVs are kind of uncool. (82) Looking at this example, it becomes apparent that each place has its own needs and interests, making businesses to think carefully about what areas would help their business flourish.

This segmentation is also present in big cities like New York City, which have served as immigration hotspot. Back in the early 20th century, millions of Italian immigrants had immigrated to America. In effect from this, in Manhattan, a 'Little Italy' was made. Surprisingly in Little Italy, the immigrants segmented themselves, the Sicilians congregated on Elizabeth Street,... while the Northern Italians occupied Bleecker Street. (Harrington) This indicated how even people from the same country still segmented themselves with the people that are around the same area. Going past communities, segmentation can be seen amongst the people in them. Looking at the articles by Ali and Alvarez, they both explain about how they felt separated from the group of people they were around by using personal experiences. Being a foreign person in any place can make someone feel this separation from others. In Ali's case expressing her Middle Eastern ethnicity was hard for her because she didn't want to be identified as part of a culture that America loved to hate. (53) She did not feel comfortable expressing her culture freely because of how Western Society depicts Arabic people as bombing terrorist. These cultural differences can also clash with the mainstream media and trends.

Some people may want to become something that is beyond what their culture allows, like in Alvarez's article, she could not follow her dreams of being Miss America because according to her culture,girl were to have no aspirations beyond being good wives and mothers. (59) This restriction made her feel inferior to others since the other people around her can become whatever they desire. Communities that are overcoming this segmentation are ones with dense immigration populations. Studies done by a group of scholars show that the racial landscape is beginning to change in America. After evaluating the 2010 census they concluded, The alterations in metropolitan areas have several origins, and immigration-wrought demographic transformations rank high on that score.(Wright et al.181) This means that places with a high immigration population saw a change in which the minorities and majorities started to balance out.According to Rodriguez, intermarriage rates...are highest in states that serve as immigration gateways. (87)

So this intermingling can help further balance out the racial landscape in America The second grouping of articles is about consumerism and advertising and corresponds with the theme of personal desires. In America, advertisements are everywhere. From watching videos on YouTube to reading the newspaper, Americans see advertisements in many different forms in their daily life.Chait points out in his article, presents to us a world...of images and ideas created for purpose of selling.(213) So advertisers create our desires through various methods of advertising. One theory on how advertisers make us want their products is a theory called the Agenda Setting Theory. According to an article, this theory means, to make their consumer audience feel dissatisfied with what they currently own or just recently purchased. (Borno 72) This can make us want to desire to get things that we do not necessarily need. For example, a commercial can come on and show us that their refrigerator with a touch screen panel is very helpful, while in reality, a touch screen on a refrigerator is not at all necessary for keeping our food cold. Over the past years, the American society has become more technology inclined and the way of advertising has followed that trend.

One of these new methods of advertising is viral marketing. According to the Economist, viral marketing is to create something that is so much fun that it will propagate by itself. (260) Advertisers want to create something that is fun so the viewers are more engaged and hope that they will share it with their friends on social media. Advertisements and media also manipulate how we should look. In McLaughlin's article she uses the example of how men are beginning to worry about their appearance. She quotes Perrine an editor for Men's Health, men are more and more portrayed as sex objects. (112) The advertisements pressure men to care about their appearance so they can look like the ideal man depicted in the ads. This concept of people imitating others and their desires is a concept that is further explained in Berger's article. Berger explains the mimetic desire like, we desire what others have desired especially those we look up to. (30) This can be seen when our favorite celebrities appear in a commercial for a product. Like commercials with Golden State Warriors' star player Stephen Curry showing off his shoes from Under Armour. In effect, Footwear sales at Under Armour surged 64% in the first three months of 2016. (Egan) Thanks to Curry and his fans, they made Under Armour a more desirable company for sports products.

Also in the American society, the desire for happiness can lead to unnecessary buying. Like Twitchell says, the good life starts with the material life.(288) Though most of the luxurious items are unnecessary to purchase, the prestigious feeling one can get from them is what really makes people desire them. Like using the branding of limited edition can make someone feel more important.

In conclusion, the themes of personal desires and segmentation vs. unification both play significant roles in these two grouping of articles. For true diversity to exist in America a more diverse public place needs to be created so there can be a better chance for others to meet people with similar desires, but also have different cultural values. Therefore uniting more communities together and creating a more diverse marketplace.

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