Swollen Expectations By John De Graaf

1086 Words5 Pages
Today, evidence clearly shows a profound lack of human care and concern in regard to not only an individual’s sense of responsibility, but a collective responsibility to each other and the precious home we call earth. People in today’s society tend to only address issues that directly affect them and ignore issues on a communal level, rejecting the concept that everything is relative and we are responsible for our actions as a whole. The’ lemming analogy,’ that people take action for no logical reason other than the fact that someone else is doing it seems to be the norm in general population today. The problem therein is that unfortunately, we are taking action in a counterproductive manner. The general aim of people today is geared at…show more content…
. De Graaf.etal claims that the misrepresented general view that the explosion of American consumerism is a statement of our outstanding progress as a growing economy, not our failure as a society to retain the mentality of ‘waste not, want not’. The idea that there is always a bigger and better version of things creates a lack of satisfaction and comfort, leaving us wanting more and better. But how long can we sustain this selfish, greedy behavior? By chronologically refrencing the increased needs of Americans to achieve happiness, Degraff comes full circle describing that we are worse off now and less happy, and with too much stuff to fit in our garages, let alone our bloated, swollen ego . Degraff demonstrates this by offering nostalgic ideas of the American Dream and how it is now quite unrealistic to go much further. De Graaf further expounds the idea that although Americans have more things and bigger house and cars, we are generally less content and happy than previous generations. As he points out that “everybody’s house has two times as much stuff in it but the feeling of affluence is no higher” [ (Graaf) ] In the essay, The Hidden Life of Garbage” Heather Rodgers, a poignant environmentalist and established writer,…show more content…
In this case, Gansberg gives a detailed chronological account of the inexcusable, unimaginable absence of action and/or assistance from several witnesses of this horrific murder of the young woman Kitty Genovese. Gansberg thoroughly reports in his article the negligence of the witnesses and one man told police he simply “didn’t want to get involved” [ (Gansberg) ] Comparatively, in a poem by Edwin Brock,” Five ways to Kill a Man”, Brock poetically rehearses the evolution homicide from barbaric and cruel in the middle ages, to virtually effortless in the twentieth century. By chronologically listing historical events, crucifying, Knightly slaying, to the objectivity of homicide in the game of war, to mass genocide and destruction, he demonstrates quite eloquently the regression of apparent thought and sincerity that was once taken to thought before killing a man. “There are many ways to kill a man [ (Brock) ]” rather nonchalantly recites in his poem, depicting the gradual yet obvious decrease of thought and general morality in regards to homicide. Edwin shows the gradual desensitization of man’s moral conscience, until the twentieth century, when as he puts it, one merely needs to be present

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