The American Dreamsease

Much of American literature critiques the "American Dream" as an irony. While the idea is that success is available to anyone who can pick themselves up by their bootstraps and work as hard as they can, many of America's most respected intellectuals have recognized the American dream as a figment of our collective imaginations, in other words, a mass hallucination.

Some people still buy into the idea though, like lost cowboys arriving on Japanese shores preaching about manifest destiny. And some people take it to the extreme. Exhibit A: Donna Simpson.


Simpson, who is currently over 600 lbs, is currently trying to become the world's fattest woman. For Christmas dinner, she told reporters, she consumed a total of 30,000 calories. According to the Toronto Sun:
     She ate two 25-pound turkeys, two maple-glazed hams, 15 lbs. of potatoes, five loaves of bread, 5 lbs. of herb stuffing, four pints of gravy, four pints of cranberry dressing and 20 lbs. of vegetables.
     After that main course, Simpson also ate a "salad" of marshmallows, cream cheese, whipped cream and cookies.

Is this a symptom of the American Dreamsease? A symptom of an idea that tells people to find what they're good at, no matter what it is, and pursue it to the best of their abilities? A symptom of an idea that says whoever is the biggest and baddest in a given area is the winner and deserves the most praise?

Just look at the reaction from conservatives on Michelle Obama's obesity campaign. Michelle is suggesting that Americans should maybe consume less and move more, good advice for anyone even if they're fit, but Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin feel that her pursuit is an invasion into our privacy; "let us have domain over our own bodies," they say. I know the American Dream preaches self-reliance and pushing forward full-steam ahead, but just because you are good at being fat, it doesn't mean you should be the best and biggest fat person on earth. The truth is that sometimes we need people to remind us to stop.  Otherwise you might end up looking like this asshole (also a food and drug addict):