People Break Down What Would Make Up The 'American Nightmare' Rather Than The 'American Dream'
People often say they came to America to pursue the American Dream.
But what is the American Dream? The ideal can be described as a life granting everyone freedom to achieve success with few obstacles in order to carve a life out for themselves and start a family.
To some, the American Dream is simply epitomized by its culture of baseball, hot dogs, and backyard BBQs.
But what would be the antithesis to the notion that "all men are created equal?
Strangers online shared their analysis when Redditor amountgood asked:
"If there’s an American dream, what’s the American nightmare?"
The thread began with sarcasm.
Why Cody Rhodes?
"Cody Rhodes is a professional wrestler known as the American Nightmare. He's the son of the late, great Dusty Rhodes, who was the American Dream."
– familyman121712
How Tuneful
"The American nightmare is a song by ice nine kills."
– EarthWillOvercome
And then Redditors mentioned their worst-case scenarios.
No White Picket Fences
"Honestly, for me ending up homeless."
– NoticeWhenUAreHappy
Unforeseen Setbacks
"For me it's getting a serious illness that prevents working, losing everything, being unable to provide for my family, and having to be taken care of by them."
– LividLager
When Dad Got Sick
"This was my Mom and dad's situation. My dad started developing ALS symptoms in his early 60's, by the time he turned 63 he could barely walk/talk let alone work. So he really lost the last high earning years of his life unfortunately."
"Compound that with 24/7 nursing 'heavy' care and my mom would have burnt through most of their savings if not ended bankrupt - had I not quit working and moved home to help her. Luckily she is a licensed RN so medically he was in better hands compared to a lot of other people suffering from it. She just couldn't move a 180 pound 6' 1" man like I could."
– Tler126
Roadblocks To A Healthy Life
"Yep! Can't afford a house, had to get married to get health insurance, if I miscarry, I might have to wait until I'm literally dying of sepsis before I can get medical treatment and if everything goes well, my baby is still full of microplastics :( The future is terrifying."
– listlessthe
Comparisons to the present were inevitable.
Our Current State
"What America is becoming right now."
– favnh2011
A New Reality
"Current America. -An American."
– TTdriver
We Grieve
"Agreed. What we are right now is pretty f'king terrible. Obviously things can get worse, but it feels like that the worst is inevitable. An absolute nightmare for sure."
– BleedingTeal
Dream Vs. Reality
"The American dream occurs when you are asleep. The American nightmare occurs when you are awake."
– cedriks
People analyzed the concept of what makes the American Nightmare.
At Second Glance...
"Ironically, the American nightmare is exactly the same as the American dream, just different perspectives."
– jcbasse
"The American dream is a marketing concept to sell you crap as you attempt to keep up with your peers. I have nicer rental properties than the little apartment I rent for myself. It’s about priorities."
"Where I live, the bike you ride is more impressive than the car you drive."
– Backyouropinion
It Doesn't Apply To Marginalized People
"American dream: prosperous 1950’s style suburbs and social mores."
"American nightmare: exactly the same, but you’re black. (Or a woman, or gay, or trans, or neuro-divergent in any way etc)"
– Charlie_Mouse
The Sitcom Life
"The same thing for someone else. For every person who dreams of a Leave it to Beaver lifestyle that's another person's Purgatory. The true American Dream is simply having the ability to live life as you so choose if that's a Sitcom life then hell live it. If that's in the middle of the city hitting the coffee shop and bakery every morning then do it."
"But too many people mistake their dream for everyone else's."
– jackfaire
Speaking Of Sitcoms
I can't personally say what constitutes the antithesis of the American Dream, but I can say when I realized the so-called "Dream" only applied exclusively to a demographic that was different from mine.
My earliest notion of the American Dream was life depicted on a TV show called The Brady Bunch. (Sadly, we're in an era where people have never even heard of this once-popular American sitcom).
It took me a long time to realize I had been internalizing my resentment of the show for not representing characters that looked like me and having storylines relating to other cultures.
I'm still nostalgic about the show's more inconsequential moments with the family–like settling arguments with a potato sack race or banding together and running through an amusement park to deliver the correct blueprints for the dad's high-stakes business meeting.
But as a youngster, I couldn't help but compare my situation to the perfect White family and realize I would never have that.
To me, that was an American nightmare in a sense. Not being able to attain the unattainable.
But it took me a while to realize I'm so grateful to have had the best of both worlds–of being raised in a country that offered me opportunities leading to a sustainable career in the entertainment industry AND having a background with a rich culture and loving family that shaped me into the proud person I have become.
The Brady's can never take that away from me.
However, I'd still love to be invited over to their house and brush Marsha's hair or have a jam session with Greg up in the attic.
In an ideal world anyway.
Growing up, my favorite cartoon was ThunderCats. Oddly, the ThunderCats are also the subject of my oldest recurring nightmare. My friends and family all know about the nightmare, it comes up quite often because they think it's so ridiculous. If you're into dream interpretation, grab your popcorn. Here we go.
The dream starts at a simple picnic in the park with my family. I'm sitting at a table across from my mother and happily snacking away. Then I notice something a little strange about her. My mom's eyes are normally an almost-alien shade of pale green, but they start to look yellow and she's just staring at me a little strangely.
Dreams can play out like reflections of our reality. Sometimes, they're bringing out deep desires in our subconscious. Other times they play out the most outlandish connections and images we can see. So, when our dreams lead us down a dark and bizarre path we never really get over, it's important to analyze it. You need to see what it's trying to tell you.
Reddit user, u/MossCoss, wanted to hear about the peskiest sleep thoughts when they asked:
Hey, Reddit, what's the weirdest dream you've ever had?
Love is a beautiful thing. it is a core gift of life. To be able to find that one in a million person to spend this life and eternity with is something we all dream about. One of the worst feelings in the world involving love is not having the love you feel reciprocated. And hey... we've all been there. Thank God for vodka and good friends.... and Adele.
One Reddit asked everyone to be brave and share... People who are in love with someone you can't possibly be with, how do you cope?