When many people think of the American Dream they think about making a living and developing a good life for their children. Recently, however, there have been many calls for a new American Dream. In this TED talk, entitled “The New American Dream” given by Courtney Martin, she also calls for new American Dream. Martin says that, “In the wake of the Great Recession, more and more Americans are redefining what "better off" really means. Turns out, it has more to do with community and creativity than dollars and cents” (Martin). Martin uses many facts and statistics to back up this claim, which makes her an effective speaker and seem well informed. Another thing she did to really engage the audience was completely change the direction of the talk. You thought she was steering in one direction and then she took the talk the other way, which kept the audience on their toes. Another way that she kept the audience interested was with her use of rhetoric. Martin established her credibility by talking about her profession and talking about how she was trying to make a life for herself, just like every other American. She uses this rhetoric right off the bat by opening her TED talk with, “I'm a journalist, so I like to look for the untold stories, the lives that quietly play out under the scream of headlines. I've also been going about the business of putting down roots, choosing a partner, making babies. So for the last few years, I've been trying to understand what constitutes the 21st-century good life, both because I'm fascinated by the moral and philosophical implications, but also because I'm in desperate need of answers myself” (Martin). Many people would say that part of the American Dream is your children being more economically sound that their parents. She uses pathos in her talk to try to evoke an emotional response for not only this generation, but their parents too by saying, “In fact, for the first time in American history, the majority of parents do not think that their kids will be better off than they were. This is true of rich and poor, men and women” (Martin). By using this, she is taking away from one of the key parts of the traditional American Dream.
This TED talk relates to our class because we have talked in detail about the American Dream and discussed whether or not it is . In class we read a text by William Zinsser called “The Right to Fail” and in that he calls for a change in the idea that they only way to accomplish your dream is to succeed and he said that we (as people) need to be okay with failure, “Maybe we are learning again to cherish this right of every person to succeed on his own terms and to fail as often as necessary along the way” (Zinsser). He, just like Martin, wants a change in the way that people think of the American dream. I liked this speech, I think that it applies today, even to those who still believe in a traditional American dream. Recently there has been a lot of controversy in American because people have differing opinions. People have always disagreed this country but never to this extent. I think having a little more community could really do good in America, if we could be a better community there may be a little less tension and a little more peace.
This TED talk relates to our class because we have talked in detail about the American Dream and discussed whether or not it is . In class we read a text by William Zinsser called “The Right to Fail” and in that he calls for a change in the idea that they only way to accomplish your dream is to succeed and he said that we (as people) need to be okay with failure, “Maybe we are learning again to cherish this right of every person to succeed on his own terms and to fail as often as necessary along the way” (Zinsser). He, just like Martin, wants a change in the way that people think of the American dream. I liked this speech, I think that it applies today, even to those who still believe in a traditional American dream. Recently there has been a lot of controversy in American because people have differing opinions. People have always disagreed this country but never to this extent. I think having a little more community could really do good in America, if we could be a better community there may be a little less tension and a little more peace.