"The American Way of Living" is my favorite picture of all time. In this photo, ideology is shown in it's purest form. In the background, you have the large, encompassing drawing of the upper-middle class white family smiling towards a bright future, meanwhile lines of text convey nationalistic statements about some "American" lifestyle, and that this lifestyle is somehow statistically the most preferable way to live. Below the propaganda is the true economic reality of the moment, namely that this is a lower-class black community completely destroyed, (due to a lack of infrastructural resources provided by the government) by a natural disaster. Interestingly enough, the poster is the largest thing in this picture. In the same way, the spectacle that is ideology is always the most visible thing in our society. Although the reality is that the small majority of middle to upper class (predominately white) communities are not at all a true representation of the totality of the American experience and lifestyle, this sect is what we predominately see within the spectacle. As an aside, yes there is media depiction of inner-city realities however it is always viewed as a glimpse into the Other. What is unfathomable is the full embrace of this lifestyle as a fundamental part of our American experience. Media such as The Wire and most of hip hop music will always exist however they will never be 'the thing.' What I mean is that it will always be a split from the majority of American media as a cold reminder that is destined to be forgotten on a political level by the viewer.
>>1381566
cont'd:
The 'real' of media will always be, to use an example, the classic sitcom stucture of however many white people having economically meaningless problems while we rarely see them at their jobs. This realm of American media is also inhabited by the poster we see in "The American Way of Living." To bring this full circle, although the political reality of a nation at any time may not reflect the picture displayed by the spectacle, the spectacle's picture will by its very nature be larger than the reality (in our current environment, at least). An interesting thing to consider is whether or not this photo would have gained any traction without the presence of the propagandist poster; I would contend that it wouldn't. This is because without the poster, it comes off as a bland statement of "what we already know," that being that some abstracted American community lives a worse life than us that we can easily mentally push aside, basically the same thing I'm talking about when I mention media such as hip hop and the Wire. The notoriety must stem from the forced recognition that the spectacle does not represent reality, in this way the photo is either intentionally or unintentionally a revolutionary piece.
>>1381586
Interesting opinion bre, now investigate it from the short comings equally faced by chinese and other asian immigrants and how they succeeded as a demographic.
>>1381682
You're not interested in the truth, you just want to score imaginary race points. Ask yourself: Are you so unwilling to think that you would be better off dead?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining
>>1381682
First, I contend that many of the original Asian-Americans still carried the cultural customs of their original societies that happened to function well with American-capitalist tendencies, and therefore were more prepared to function 'properly' in their new environment. Meanwhile, most of the black population (at the time of this photo) had been completely generationally removed from their original culture and ideology, and only knew post-slavery or segregational ideology, setting them to be inherently differentiated to the dominate white or capitalist environment they existed in. Combine this with the early action of placing newly freed blacks in ghettos, which at this point we know are a ideologically reifying environment, and it becomes clear that they were in a way doomed from the start. Of course, I don't mean to discredit the struggles of early Asian-Americans, however they undeniably came in under different circumstances than the black community. Beyond that, many Asians in America received reparations (justly, of course) due to the Japanese internment camps, something not granted to the black community for slavery.
Even setting that aside, there is the physical issue of lighter vs. darker skin. Of course this is ridiculous now, however at the pivotal moment where Asians became more successful than blacks in America, this was absolutely an issue and most likely contributed to the lack of success from the black community
>>1381566
>>1382638
*liberates the working class*
*tips communist manifesto*
>>1381566
This is some koala-tea bait friendo
>>1381586
it lacks some "son ons"
What, exactly, is it that you people despise about the white middle class?
>meanwhile lines of text convey nationalistic statements about some "American" lifestyle
The statement about American lifestyle has nothing to do with nationalism.
>>1383336
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining
its selfish and gluttonous nature
>>1381743
>all asians are japanese
yawn
