Absolutely yes, if your privilege is measured against what I assume to be average "white privilege" Your health problems are my health problems mentally for the same reasons you list (childhood bad stuff, really bad) and my husband's work ethic made him the best but he's 45 and has had multiple surgeries to help him keep working his heavy-duty job in a place he has built. We started our marriage stepping over a hole in a trailer to get inside. We have tried very hard and have been able to put our sons in a better position than we had, but we can't quit anytime soon. And, yep. We still get phone calls from family members calling collect. I know you know. It takes so very much to overcome a tough hand of dealt cards. According to what I believe is meant by the American Dream, though it's not all it's cracked up to be some days, you've made it! You're actually doing much better than most. If you are like me, the goal is not to pass down the tough beginnings. Congratulations 🎊
It's interesting how this concept of "privilege" has morphed over the years. When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, "privilege," as in coming from a "privileged background," referred to those who were at least upper-middle-class and most often referred to the wealthy.
But then, around 2010 or maybe 2012, the concept of "privilege" expanded to include anyone who was "marginalized," most often referring to race and ethnicity (and not class).
I've been in academia for my entire adult life, so I witnessed this shift firsthand. I was able to roll with the changes in these terms, perhaps because I am a Xennial and didn't have super-fixed ideas about the world at that time. But at faculty development workshops on (white) privilege, many of my boomer colleagues were operating with the old sense of the term "privilege" and were very, very confused as a result. This confusion was never addressed during the workshop; it was mistaken for outright resistance to the concept of privilege. I think this is because the younger faculty members leading these workshops were operating with the new sense of "privilege."
Over the years, it seems "privilege" has become a sociological shorthand (at best) and invective (at worst). But I've noticed that my students over the past year or two are less likely to use this term to describe people. I'm not sure if this is a result of the vibe shift or because students are trying to get out of the linguistic box that Gen X and Millennials put them in. (The irony is, is that they are creating another, more kaleidoscopic linguistic box in the process!)
Even as a sociological shorthand, the term "privileged" is vey limiting, a blunt instrument. Too often the idea of privilege is seen as a "you either have it, or you don't" kind of concept, or a way of sorting people into the "good" camp or the "bad" camp. I mean, people see it as an absolute concept, not a relative one.
Bailey's piece is so rhetorical in nature, and I'm not 100% sure of his intentions. Is he deconstructing the concept of "privilege"? Or, is he doubling down on the racial connotations of "privilege"? For me, once you look at the concept of "privilege" on the granular level and how it applies to any one individual, the whole thing breaks down, becomes incoherent, obfuscating. It hides more than it reveals.
If you have watched The Sopranos you saw the Italian community begin to distance itself from the crime ridden Mafia. When does the apparent tolerance for crime within the black community along with the acceptance by black school administrators of the disruption of classrooms by out of control individuals begin to end? Finally when will fathers who fail to care for and love their children and especially their boy children be openly censured by black leadership? The young Chris Rock joked openly about these issues but he clearly now censors himself.
What you describe is a result of how black men have been infantilized by the Left. The strongest and most devoted fathers I have ever known are Christian Conservative black men. These men raise amazing families even in the poorest neighborhoods and against overwhelming odds. These are the black men who should be held up as heroes, not losers like rap singers and sports stars.
This author is one of the most privileged men in the world, and his family is one of the most privileged families in the world.
Here's the thing: I was homeless and have spent decades volunteering with my homeless neighbors (we call ourselves homeless, not "unhoused").
When you volunteer with homeless people and get to know them, you hear stories of trauma that would bring you to your knees. And you know what? These stories of trauma cross all lines of race, ethnicity, and gender.
Homeless people of various "identities" literally sleep in each other's pee. To enjoy the opulence the author writes about is beyond their wildest imaginings.
But no, the author has not achieved the "American Dream". Instead, he has FAR surpassed the America Dream in the eyes of most of his fellow citizens.
The author is not only privileged, he is SO privileged that he has no idea how privileged he is!
My dream is that we all begin to acknowledge that the things we take for granted, other people are desperately praying for.
Be grateful, and stop looking for reasons to feel like a victim. Thank You.
Whatever privilege Prof Bailey and Halle Bailey may have, it has been earned 100% and they are fully entitled to its fruits. Thank you for sharing your story.
In a way, I'm tending toward 'not'. I came across this definition of the American Dream and I quite agree with it, "The American Dream is the belief that anyone in the United States, regardless of background, can achieve success, prosperity, and upward mobility through hard work and determination. It often emphasizes opportunities for a better life, homeownership, education, and personal freedom." I'll also add the caveat of personal freedom from government overreach and control (as a Canadian, we are increasingly sliding into Totalitarianism).
In the past, control over a person's personal liberty came from the Right. But, we now live in a world, in which control is being exercised by the Left. As the Horseshoe Theory quite aptly sums up, the extremes use different language but the outcomes are the same.
As we've seen with the extreme Left becoming the new establishment, black people are once again being judged based on their skin color and background. But, this time it's being used to excuse bad behavior (the bigotry of low expectations) and the worst actors have been pilloried (George Floyd for just one example). Those that do speak out against this are called the most racist names. We've seen major news outlets use the phrase 'the black face of white supremacy' to attack people like Larry Elder.
During Covid, we also saw black people and Indigenous being the primary focus of the Covid shots (I refuse to call them vaccines). As the new documentary, Follow The Silenced shows, the injuries are quite significant.
We seemed to hit the 'sweet spot' back in the 80's, but it was very fleeting. I do believe the pendulum is starting to swing back. Let's just hope we can hold it as close to the center as possible.
Thank you for this very thought provoking article. It highlights for me the complexity of topics like this and that more often than not there is so much more that contributes to each of our stories that a simple "yes" or "no" to those questions does not do justice to any individual's or their family's life story. I "think" I understand some times the value of labels like "privileged" in that it can help us determine where inequalities may exist that do need to be rectified, yet at the same time labels tend to somewhat arbitrarily group people in a manner that limits our potential understanding and we miss the deeper and more important aspects of who people are. Perhaps my biggest take away from this article is to remind myself that none of us have the right to judge anyone and we should always seek to understand with an open mind and with compassion, after all the one thing we all have in common is that we are all human.
This was a very poignant and provocative journal entry. My answer would be no. You are not privileged, but the next generation is on a path of promise, which is really all one can hope for in this country of ideals. The cycle of criminality and fatherless families seems to be the critical element, however. Too bad Bill Cosby betrayed his messages of rejecting social pathologies and embracing education, marriage, and financial stability. Corporations who profit from gangster culture and athletic and entertainment exceptionalism won’t help. Normalizing boring middle class values is probably the best pathway now that de jure discrimination is behind us. African and Asian immigrants have proven that.
You have the wherewithal as an extended family to help the branches of it who are struggling, and you are community-minded, helping others who also struggle. This is the human family story: cream rises to the top.
My family is white, a mix of Celtic, English, French, Dutch, Slavic, Austrian. Most were dirt-poor fleeing lives as tenant serfs and cannon fodder in Middle Europe; one was a minor landed gentleman fleeing for his neck and I’m not sure why, but I have a feeling he was a Jacobite (Catholic) supporting the wrong claimant (Charles Stuart) to the British throne.
Some fell to alcohol, some to mental illness. But as an extended family, the vast majority are comfortable and contribute to the community-both sides of the 49th. Only a couple have achieved the heights you have, between your brothers and nieces.
All of us whose families started out in a shanty we built from materials at hand, cleared ground to plant kitchen gardens and support basic livestock for our own consumption or went out to fish or shoot squirrels for dinner if we couldn’t get anything bigger, who paid in a pool of like-minded neighbours to supply rudimentary education to our kids and saw at least some of them achieve a good life down the generations afterward: have achieved this dream.
There will always be those in the family tree who have fracture points and don’t survive, but as a group, you grow upward. So, yes. Your family has arrived, even with its casualties.
Much good wishes for you all, as you manage going forward.
Great read, thank you. Poverty looks different across racial lines. Black poverty may have characteristics that differentiate it from white poverty, or indigenous poverty, immigrant poverty, etc.
But, bottom line, it's still poverty. And poverty creates problems for people. Fix the poverty and you fix the problem.
I really should rest but this essay was so thought provoking in the moment. I have written about "Black Privilege" in the past on my Substack and these questions intrigue me. Privilege is an imprecise term, since the term manipulates us into viewing the world in an either/or, privileged/non-privileged manner. As I write, my daughter prepares for a new life of corporate apprenticeship. She is of the Ivy League for multiple generations. However, she will never enjoy the acclaim of the writer's niece. Is my daughter privileged, non-privileged or something more elusive of precise definition?
I could easily change the reader's perception. A struggling brown-skinned young woman, a descendant of American slaves and sharecroppers and black folks chased out of South Carolina on a rail, suffers from low self-esteem as she communes among those who take millions and billions of dollars for granted. Privileged, non-privileged or something more elusive of clear meaning? I could throw in a few house maids and hotel cleaners for good measure to slant one's perception.
Has the writer's family achieved the American Dream? Like what does that even mean? What does the American Dream look like, feel like, in an American family? Long ago, I despaired of these indeterminate questions. We will never know the answer because every individual has the power of choice, to choose what becomes the family story and what is left out. For example, suppose I told you the young woman who was just in my presence and reminding me to take a nap...suppose I told you she was the descendant of four generations of black American slave owners? Privileged or not? A descendant of the first black U.S. Representative and legacy member of Jack and Jill and Alpha Kappa Alpha. Privileged or not? Memories of Sag Harbor and Martha's Vineyard ever present in family lore. Privileged or not?
I could write a rich essay about whether my family has achieved the American Dream, a dream that includes hopes realized and dreams deferred and denied. Just depends upon one's perspective. The writer makes much of health conditions, however, medical conditions often times are plain old genetic, a bad roll of the dice. The young woman I referred to earlier has a genetic tendency for diabetes, same as her deceased aunt. That is truly genetic, not environmental. Our family lies on a beautiful quirky spectrum. That is genetic. Racism did not render my Uncle eccentric, my Aunt a bohemian in a small southern town. That was a genetic tale. The writer refers to a brother who murdered. I know of a cousin who forged a will. Every family has issues, even those families for whom the line between privilege and lack of privilege runs through every heart.
I conclude this comment with a poignant reflection. Today was a happy day for us as a family member received his master's degree. Privilege, yes. Over lunch, another family member recounted how a cousin who had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin lost his life in a car crash. Every one survived but the young, brilliant, genius-level cousin. The family was never the same. No privilege, the loss reverberated over the generations. That was not racism. That was random, cruel fate.
I enjoyed this essay so very much. The questions provoked thought and kept me from my nap/smile! Kudos to the writer for reminding us all families know both privilege and lack of privilege, if you think about it.
I don’t have an answer. Lots of us came up with multiple generational traumas before us and in our own upbringing. For me, it made me fight very hard to have a life that was different, more “accomplished” and less prone to chaos, insecurity, and the problems that come with hand to mouth living. My two brothers fared worse, and one spent ten years in prison. My best friend in high school was Black and I am White. We were always able to have uniquely frank and open discussions of race, our families, and discrimination, attending a very mixed Black and White school in the south with many teachers who came up through historically Black Colleges. 30 years later, we keep in touch and we continue to discuss the ways in which our families were privileged and not privileged over the years, through various political parties, shifts in cultural awareness and thought. She has family trauma as do I, and it keeps us both humble, engaged, and questioning of all the narratives of trauma, opportunity gaps, wealth accumulation, and basic equality. African Americans have much generational trauma to contend with. Many other groups do as well, and we must build our curiosity in others’ lives, and figure out paths to resilience and better paths to basic equality and education.
I think the concept of privilege has been badly misunderstood, and I suspect the distortions are intentional. They neatly serve a set of intersecting political goals. No one talks about the marginalization of addicts or schizophrenics... because they're not useful political demographics.
Add to this the fact that many 'privileges' have REVERSED (it's now much better to be a woman applying for a job or a scholarship or a college) and it's a mess.
We need to define the American dream and it's dimensions to answer your question. But I only seem to have more questions. Many Americans born to into "good circumstances" become addicts or depressives or criminals or suicides.
What does the American dream mean and when does it start? When does it end? Can we achieve it and then lose it? What the hell is it? What is the half life of the American dream?
Is it that we have a realistic opportunity to achieve personal and financial independence?
Does it imply there will be no suffering along the way? No mental or physical health issues? No addiction? No pain?
Absolutely yes, if your privilege is measured against what I assume to be average "white privilege" Your health problems are my health problems mentally for the same reasons you list (childhood bad stuff, really bad) and my husband's work ethic made him the best but he's 45 and has had multiple surgeries to help him keep working his heavy-duty job in a place he has built. We started our marriage stepping over a hole in a trailer to get inside. We have tried very hard and have been able to put our sons in a better position than we had, but we can't quit anytime soon. And, yep. We still get phone calls from family members calling collect. I know you know. It takes so very much to overcome a tough hand of dealt cards. According to what I believe is meant by the American Dream, though it's not all it's cracked up to be some days, you've made it! You're actually doing much better than most. If you are like me, the goal is not to pass down the tough beginnings. Congratulations 🎊
It's interesting how this concept of "privilege" has morphed over the years. When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, "privilege," as in coming from a "privileged background," referred to those who were at least upper-middle-class and most often referred to the wealthy.
But then, around 2010 or maybe 2012, the concept of "privilege" expanded to include anyone who was "marginalized," most often referring to race and ethnicity (and not class).
I've been in academia for my entire adult life, so I witnessed this shift firsthand. I was able to roll with the changes in these terms, perhaps because I am a Xennial and didn't have super-fixed ideas about the world at that time. But at faculty development workshops on (white) privilege, many of my boomer colleagues were operating with the old sense of the term "privilege" and were very, very confused as a result. This confusion was never addressed during the workshop; it was mistaken for outright resistance to the concept of privilege. I think this is because the younger faculty members leading these workshops were operating with the new sense of "privilege."
Over the years, it seems "privilege" has become a sociological shorthand (at best) and invective (at worst). But I've noticed that my students over the past year or two are less likely to use this term to describe people. I'm not sure if this is a result of the vibe shift or because students are trying to get out of the linguistic box that Gen X and Millennials put them in. (The irony is, is that they are creating another, more kaleidoscopic linguistic box in the process!)
Even as a sociological shorthand, the term "privileged" is vey limiting, a blunt instrument. Too often the idea of privilege is seen as a "you either have it, or you don't" kind of concept, or a way of sorting people into the "good" camp or the "bad" camp. I mean, people see it as an absolute concept, not a relative one.
Bailey's piece is so rhetorical in nature, and I'm not 100% sure of his intentions. Is he deconstructing the concept of "privilege"? Or, is he doubling down on the racial connotations of "privilege"? For me, once you look at the concept of "privilege" on the granular level and how it applies to any one individual, the whole thing breaks down, becomes incoherent, obfuscating. It hides more than it reveals.
Thank you for a challenging and thought-provoking read.
My response is that you are not privileged. However, you are no longer under-privileged.
In other words, you have attained the baseline normalcy that we, as a society, aim for and hope all members of our society are able to attain.
If you have watched The Sopranos you saw the Italian community begin to distance itself from the crime ridden Mafia. When does the apparent tolerance for crime within the black community along with the acceptance by black school administrators of the disruption of classrooms by out of control individuals begin to end? Finally when will fathers who fail to care for and love their children and especially their boy children be openly censured by black leadership? The young Chris Rock joked openly about these issues but he clearly now censors himself.
What you describe is a result of how black men have been infantilized by the Left. The strongest and most devoted fathers I have ever known are Christian Conservative black men. These men raise amazing families even in the poorest neighborhoods and against overwhelming odds. These are the black men who should be held up as heroes, not losers like rap singers and sports stars.
This author is one of the most privileged men in the world, and his family is one of the most privileged families in the world.
Here's the thing: I was homeless and have spent decades volunteering with my homeless neighbors (we call ourselves homeless, not "unhoused").
When you volunteer with homeless people and get to know them, you hear stories of trauma that would bring you to your knees. And you know what? These stories of trauma cross all lines of race, ethnicity, and gender.
Homeless people of various "identities" literally sleep in each other's pee. To enjoy the opulence the author writes about is beyond their wildest imaginings.
But no, the author has not achieved the "American Dream". Instead, he has FAR surpassed the America Dream in the eyes of most of his fellow citizens.
The author is not only privileged, he is SO privileged that he has no idea how privileged he is!
My dream is that we all begin to acknowledge that the things we take for granted, other people are desperately praying for.
Be grateful, and stop looking for reasons to feel like a victim. Thank You.
Whatever privilege Prof Bailey and Halle Bailey may have, it has been earned 100% and they are fully entitled to its fruits. Thank you for sharing your story.
In a way, I'm tending toward 'not'. I came across this definition of the American Dream and I quite agree with it, "The American Dream is the belief that anyone in the United States, regardless of background, can achieve success, prosperity, and upward mobility through hard work and determination. It often emphasizes opportunities for a better life, homeownership, education, and personal freedom." I'll also add the caveat of personal freedom from government overreach and control (as a Canadian, we are increasingly sliding into Totalitarianism).
In the past, control over a person's personal liberty came from the Right. But, we now live in a world, in which control is being exercised by the Left. As the Horseshoe Theory quite aptly sums up, the extremes use different language but the outcomes are the same.
As we've seen with the extreme Left becoming the new establishment, black people are once again being judged based on their skin color and background. But, this time it's being used to excuse bad behavior (the bigotry of low expectations) and the worst actors have been pilloried (George Floyd for just one example). Those that do speak out against this are called the most racist names. We've seen major news outlets use the phrase 'the black face of white supremacy' to attack people like Larry Elder.
During Covid, we also saw black people and Indigenous being the primary focus of the Covid shots (I refuse to call them vaccines). As the new documentary, Follow The Silenced shows, the injuries are quite significant.
We seemed to hit the 'sweet spot' back in the 80's, but it was very fleeting. I do believe the pendulum is starting to swing back. Let's just hope we can hold it as close to the center as possible.
Thank you for this very thought provoking article. It highlights for me the complexity of topics like this and that more often than not there is so much more that contributes to each of our stories that a simple "yes" or "no" to those questions does not do justice to any individual's or their family's life story. I "think" I understand some times the value of labels like "privileged" in that it can help us determine where inequalities may exist that do need to be rectified, yet at the same time labels tend to somewhat arbitrarily group people in a manner that limits our potential understanding and we miss the deeper and more important aspects of who people are. Perhaps my biggest take away from this article is to remind myself that none of us have the right to judge anyone and we should always seek to understand with an open mind and with compassion, after all the one thing we all have in common is that we are all human.
This was a very poignant and provocative journal entry. My answer would be no. You are not privileged, but the next generation is on a path of promise, which is really all one can hope for in this country of ideals. The cycle of criminality and fatherless families seems to be the critical element, however. Too bad Bill Cosby betrayed his messages of rejecting social pathologies and embracing education, marriage, and financial stability. Corporations who profit from gangster culture and athletic and entertainment exceptionalism won’t help. Normalizing boring middle class values is probably the best pathway now that de jure discrimination is behind us. African and Asian immigrants have proven that.
A well-thought piece. I would say yes.
You have the wherewithal as an extended family to help the branches of it who are struggling, and you are community-minded, helping others who also struggle. This is the human family story: cream rises to the top.
My family is white, a mix of Celtic, English, French, Dutch, Slavic, Austrian. Most were dirt-poor fleeing lives as tenant serfs and cannon fodder in Middle Europe; one was a minor landed gentleman fleeing for his neck and I’m not sure why, but I have a feeling he was a Jacobite (Catholic) supporting the wrong claimant (Charles Stuart) to the British throne.
Some fell to alcohol, some to mental illness. But as an extended family, the vast majority are comfortable and contribute to the community-both sides of the 49th. Only a couple have achieved the heights you have, between your brothers and nieces.
All of us whose families started out in a shanty we built from materials at hand, cleared ground to plant kitchen gardens and support basic livestock for our own consumption or went out to fish or shoot squirrels for dinner if we couldn’t get anything bigger, who paid in a pool of like-minded neighbours to supply rudimentary education to our kids and saw at least some of them achieve a good life down the generations afterward: have achieved this dream.
There will always be those in the family tree who have fracture points and don’t survive, but as a group, you grow upward. So, yes. Your family has arrived, even with its casualties.
Much good wishes for you all, as you manage going forward.
Great read, thank you. Poverty looks different across racial lines. Black poverty may have characteristics that differentiate it from white poverty, or indigenous poverty, immigrant poverty, etc.
But, bottom line, it's still poverty. And poverty creates problems for people. Fix the poverty and you fix the problem.
"What happened to your nap? -- Daughter
"I know, I know, I'm procrastinating" -- Me
I really should rest but this essay was so thought provoking in the moment. I have written about "Black Privilege" in the past on my Substack and these questions intrigue me. Privilege is an imprecise term, since the term manipulates us into viewing the world in an either/or, privileged/non-privileged manner. As I write, my daughter prepares for a new life of corporate apprenticeship. She is of the Ivy League for multiple generations. However, she will never enjoy the acclaim of the writer's niece. Is my daughter privileged, non-privileged or something more elusive of precise definition?
I could easily change the reader's perception. A struggling brown-skinned young woman, a descendant of American slaves and sharecroppers and black folks chased out of South Carolina on a rail, suffers from low self-esteem as she communes among those who take millions and billions of dollars for granted. Privileged, non-privileged or something more elusive of clear meaning? I could throw in a few house maids and hotel cleaners for good measure to slant one's perception.
Has the writer's family achieved the American Dream? Like what does that even mean? What does the American Dream look like, feel like, in an American family? Long ago, I despaired of these indeterminate questions. We will never know the answer because every individual has the power of choice, to choose what becomes the family story and what is left out. For example, suppose I told you the young woman who was just in my presence and reminding me to take a nap...suppose I told you she was the descendant of four generations of black American slave owners? Privileged or not? A descendant of the first black U.S. Representative and legacy member of Jack and Jill and Alpha Kappa Alpha. Privileged or not? Memories of Sag Harbor and Martha's Vineyard ever present in family lore. Privileged or not?
I could write a rich essay about whether my family has achieved the American Dream, a dream that includes hopes realized and dreams deferred and denied. Just depends upon one's perspective. The writer makes much of health conditions, however, medical conditions often times are plain old genetic, a bad roll of the dice. The young woman I referred to earlier has a genetic tendency for diabetes, same as her deceased aunt. That is truly genetic, not environmental. Our family lies on a beautiful quirky spectrum. That is genetic. Racism did not render my Uncle eccentric, my Aunt a bohemian in a small southern town. That was a genetic tale. The writer refers to a brother who murdered. I know of a cousin who forged a will. Every family has issues, even those families for whom the line between privilege and lack of privilege runs through every heart.
I conclude this comment with a poignant reflection. Today was a happy day for us as a family member received his master's degree. Privilege, yes. Over lunch, another family member recounted how a cousin who had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin lost his life in a car crash. Every one survived but the young, brilliant, genius-level cousin. The family was never the same. No privilege, the loss reverberated over the generations. That was not racism. That was random, cruel fate.
I enjoyed this essay so very much. The questions provoked thought and kept me from my nap/smile! Kudos to the writer for reminding us all families know both privilege and lack of privilege, if you think about it.
I don’t have an answer. Lots of us came up with multiple generational traumas before us and in our own upbringing. For me, it made me fight very hard to have a life that was different, more “accomplished” and less prone to chaos, insecurity, and the problems that come with hand to mouth living. My two brothers fared worse, and one spent ten years in prison. My best friend in high school was Black and I am White. We were always able to have uniquely frank and open discussions of race, our families, and discrimination, attending a very mixed Black and White school in the south with many teachers who came up through historically Black Colleges. 30 years later, we keep in touch and we continue to discuss the ways in which our families were privileged and not privileged over the years, through various political parties, shifts in cultural awareness and thought. She has family trauma as do I, and it keeps us both humble, engaged, and questioning of all the narratives of trauma, opportunity gaps, wealth accumulation, and basic equality. African Americans have much generational trauma to contend with. Many other groups do as well, and we must build our curiosity in others’ lives, and figure out paths to resilience and better paths to basic equality and education.
I think the concept of privilege has been badly misunderstood, and I suspect the distortions are intentional. They neatly serve a set of intersecting political goals. No one talks about the marginalization of addicts or schizophrenics... because they're not useful political demographics.
Add to this the fact that many 'privileges' have REVERSED (it's now much better to be a woman applying for a job or a scholarship or a college) and it's a mess.
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/privilege-and-its-lack
We need to define the American dream and it's dimensions to answer your question. But I only seem to have more questions. Many Americans born to into "good circumstances" become addicts or depressives or criminals or suicides.
What does the American dream mean and when does it start? When does it end? Can we achieve it and then lose it? What the hell is it? What is the half life of the American dream?
Is it that we have a realistic opportunity to achieve personal and financial independence?
Does it imply there will be no suffering along the way? No mental or physical health issues? No addiction? No pain?
Same with the Irish. My Irish great-grandparents had to distance themselves from the difficult elements” that were prevalent among the Irish.