3 Signs Of A Dying Culture | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Politics and Activism

3 Signs Of A Dying Culture

Post-modernism, consumerism, legalism — it has many names.

623
3 Signs Of A Dying Culture
Chris Goringe

In today’s society, we have nearly anything we could want. From the latest gadgets to the best cup of coffee that money can buy, from tweeting our favorite celebrity to becoming one through our YouTube channel, living in the United States has given us an unprecedented amount of satisfaction, with just a few resulting issues.

1. Insecurity.

There will always be something that makes us feel small, but now more than ever we are searching for what makes us important. Our culture is constantly telling us that we are not good enough. From our looks, to our friend groups, to our jobs and families. What are we doing about it? We are spending more than ever, filling ourselves with various people, places and things.

What did we discover? We need more. Stuff cannot fulfill us, but we believe deep down that if we just had that boyfriend/girlfriend, computer, job or nice sweater, we’d be OK. That’s why we all need a life size pink dolphin pillow.

Everyone is connected to someone or something for fulfillment. You are worshiping something: be it money, relationships or objects. Our society has told us that our “soul mate” should be exactly what we want, to where we feel the need to change people into what we need to feel satisfied.

So we search the ends of the earth for completeness, but only if it is convenient. We want the least amount of commitment with the maximum amount of pleasure. We cannot function without true love available at our fingertips or we will be demonized by our “you must date everyone everywhere all the time” culture. At least we’ll always have Chipotle.

2. Entitlement.

Working at Starbucks has taught me many things, but one of the biggest is that many Starbucks customers feel that all of heaven and earth should shut down if something is wrong with their drink. It's almost as if we think we are the single greatest thing to ever walk the Earth.

While that may be true, this sense of entitlement stems into all aspects of our lives. That our spouse should be super hot, our job should pay us an enormous salary and we should be always happy. I mean, it's inexcusable to think that I don’t deserve my own blimp decked out with water cannons and my own arsenal of trained bald eagles.

3. Pride.

Last, but certainly not least, we begin to believe that our way of life is the best. The United States is truly an amazing place with so much to offer, but when we blindly believe we are better than everyone else this leads to subtle prejudice, racism and in extreme cases, dehumanization. America: pushing people away since the invention of the white picket fence.

We’ve thrown away reason and bought ourselves a little flag pin, because obviously if you don’t wear one 24/7 you hate America, freedom, babies and the Dallas Cowboys.

All in all, there is always hope in that through life’s ups and downs, we can come to our senses, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make the tough decisions. This is America after all.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
campus
CampusExplorer

New year, new semester, not the same old thing. This semester will be a semester to redeem all the mistakes made in the previous five months.

1. I will wake up (sorta) on time for class.

Let's face it, last semester you woke up with enough time to brush your teeth and get to class and even then you were about 10 minutes late and rollin' in with some pretty unfortunate bed head. This semester we will set our alarms, wake up with time to get ready, and get to class on time!

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

The 5 Painfully True Stages Of Camping Out At The Library

For those long nights that turn into mornings when the struggle is real.

1193
woman reading a book while sitting on black leather 3-seat couch
Photo by Seven Shooter on Unsplash

And so it begins.

1. Walk in motivated and ready to rock

Camping out at the library is not for the faint of heart. You need to go in as a warrior. You usually have brought supplies (laptop, chargers, and textbooks) and sustenance (water, snacks, and blanket/sweatpants) since the battle will be for an undetermined length of time. Perhaps it is one assignment or perhaps it's four. You are motivated and prepared; you don’t doubt the assignment(s) will take time, but you know it couldn’t be that long.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

The 14 Stages Of The Last Week Of Class

You need sleep, but also have 13 things due in the span of 4 days.

821
black marker on notebook

December... it's full of finals, due dates, Mariah Carey, and the holidays. It's the worst time of the year, but the best because after finals, you get to not think about classes for a month and catch up on all the sleep you lost throughout the semester. But what's worse than finals week is the last week of classes, when all the due dates you've put off can no longer be put off anymore.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

Top 20 Thoughts College Students Have During Finals

The ultimate list and gif guide to a college student's brain during finals.

131
winter

Thanksgiving break is over and Christmas is just around the corner and that means, for most college students, one hellish thing — finals week. It's the one time of year in which the library becomes over populated and mental breakdowns are most frequent. There is no way to avoid it or a cure for the pain that it brings. All we can do is hunker down with our books, order some Dominos, and pray that it will all be over soon. Luckily, we are not alone in this suffering. To prove it, here are just a few of the many deranged thoughts that go through a college student's mind during finals week.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

28 Daily Thoughts of College Students

"I want to thank Google, Wikipedia, and whoever else invented copy and paste. Thank you."

1483
group of people sitting on bench near trees duting daytime

I know every college student has daily thoughts throughout their day. Whether you're walking on campus or attending class, we always have thoughts running a mile a minute through our heads. We may be wondering why we even showed up to class because we'd rather be sleeping, or when the professor announces that we have a test and you have an immediate panic attack.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments