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America: Dysfunction, Decline, and Despair, Part One [1]
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Date: 2025-05-31
The article “Systems are crumbling –but daily life continues. The dissonance is real” by Adrienne Matei (The Guardian, May 22, 2025) (Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-interactive/2025/may/22/hypernormalization-dysfunction-status-quo) explores the concept of hypernormalization — a powerful term coined by anthropologist Alexei Yurchak in 2005 to describe civilian life in the final decades of the Soviet Union. At that time, society was sustained by a mass illusion: institutions were failing, yet people continued to behave as if everything was functioning normally.
Hypernormalization refers to this very condition — one in which governments and systems have largely ceased to operate effectively, yet citizens maintain the pretense of normalcy. People go along with the illusion — whether out of fear, denial, resignation, or habit — even as they experience private feelings of dread, anxiety, or the quiet certainty that something is profoundly wrong.
In a hypernormalized society, enormous energy is spent maintaining appearances. Some people do this out of sheer necessity or survival; others dissociate or look away from the truth, and many simply don’t know what else to do. The result is a disorienting landscape in which collapse and routine coexist — where dysfunction is absorbed into daily life, and the abnormal is gradually accepted as normal.
The tragedy is that America has become a hypernormalized society. I first began to sense this in the mid-to-late1970s. At the time, I was working in business and closely tracking both politics and the economy. It felt as though I could see through a veil of social performance that everyone was trying hard to sustain — a shared delusion that masked an unraveling reality.
Brazilian philosopher and educator Paulo Freire described this kind of awakening as conscientização, or critical consciousness—the process through which individuals come to understand the social, political, and economic contradictions surrounding them and commit to changing oppressive structures.
Since that time, the contradictions have only deepened. The distance between illusion and reality has widened so dramatically that it now requires massive effort — and widespread denial — to maintain the fantasy that America still functions as it should.
Take home ownership, for example. The illusion persists that owning a home is an essential part of the American Dream— a symbol of success, stability, and upward mobility. The reality for millions of Americans is the opposite. Many are locked into expensive rental markets, paying 30% to 50% of their income to corporate landlords. They cannot save enough for a down payment, cannot qualify for a high-interest mortgage, and cannot find an affordable house to begin with — much less build wealth through home equity. This crisis is exacerbated by private equity firms and investors purchasing homes with cash, flipping them for profit, and developers constructing luxury homes instead of affordable housing. The free market has no interest in the American dream, only profit. The rich win and everyone else is a loser—one of Trump’s favorite taunts. This includes most of the MAGA faithful—losers.
This is just one example. The postscript includes 15 more brief comparisons of illusion versus reality —snapshots that together illustrate a country whose foundational promises are no longer true. This is the iceberg’s visible tip.
America clings tightly to its illusions, but most people feel the reality pressing in on them. Hypernormalization provides a temporary psychological buffer, reducing the cognitive dissonance between what we’re told and what we experience. But the cost is high: emotional exhaustion, civic disengagement, political fragmentation, and a growing sense of despair.
Hypernormalization in America affects everyone—the disempowered experience it as helplessness and confusion. The powerful perpetuate it to maintain control and increase their wealth. And the middle — caught between precariousness and privilege — copes through detachment, denial, or superficial narratives of optimism. Everyone, in their own way, is trying to survive a system that no longer delivers on its promises.
This vacuum of truth and function leaves society vulnerable — particularly to authoritarian figures who thrive on illusion. This is where Trump becomes both a symptom and an accelerant. He exploits hypernormalization by presenting bold illusions — nostalgic, simplistic, impossible — while refusing to engage with the actual structural causes of American decline. He capitalizes on people’s hunger for meaning, identity, and control — not by addressing the truth but by selling fantasy.
He does not challenge the hypernormal state. He depends on it. His movement is fueled by, and in turn fuels, disinformation, spectacle, and myth — not genuine solutions. He doesn’t reveal that the emperor has no clothes. He simply sews a new costume.
Opposing Trump — or any authoritarian —begins with truth-telling. Not just speaking truth to power but speaking truth to reality. Acknowledging what is broken is the first step in building something better. Critical consciousness must replace passive illusion. And that means citizens, leaders, and institutions alike must stop pretending and start reckoning with the truth.
What lies beyond hypernormalization is uncertain. Societies at this juncture can fall further into authoritarianism, collapse under the weight of contradiction, or undergo a difficult awakening that leads to transformation. The choice is collective, but it begins individually — with the courage to stop pretending, to name what is broken, and to imagine and build what could be whole. Only by breaking the spell of illusion can a new and better normal be born.
Day 132: days left to January 20, 2029: 1,330 days
P.S.: The following quotes are some common “illusions” followed by their reality.
1 Higher Education: “College is the key to success.” It’s unaffordable, excludes many, and is a financial trap with a low return on investment (ROI) for others.
2 Healthcare: “America has the best healthcare system in the world.” Outcomes are worse than those in other developed countries.
3 Infrastructure & Public Services: “We’re a first-world country.” Too much infrastructure resembles that of a failing state.
4 Job Market / Wages: “Hard work pays off.” Millions work hard and still fall behind.
5 Media and Information: “We’re an informed society.” Disinformation and confusion are rampant.
6 Political System: “We’re the world’s leading democracy.” Institutions are eroding, trust is collapsing, and neither party delivers.
7 Climate and Environment: “We’re addressing climate change.” Not nearly enough is being done, and we are running out of time.
8 Legal and Justice Systems: “Equal justice under law.” It is a deeply unequal system biased by race, wealth, and power, as Trump has himself manipulated.
9 Retirement and Aging: “You work hard, then retire comfortably.” Reality: More and more can never retire.
10 K–12 Public Education: “Public schools are the great equalizer.” Educational apartheid exists, and many schools are failing students.
11 Tech and Privacy: “Tech is empowering and connects us.” It often isolates, exploits, harms, and surveils us.
12 Emergency Services and Infrastructure: “The state will keep you safe.” Many essential services are crumbling.
13 Mental Health and Emotional Well-being: “You just need better habits.” Structural causes of distress are rampant and go unaddressed.
14 Politics: “Your voice and your vote matter.” Systemic corruption, moneyed interests, and partisan games are incapable of fixing anything.
15 The American Dream: “This is the greatest country on Earth.” Reality: For too many, it no longer feels that way.
Each of these examples could be expanded, and many more could be added. The Grand Canyon becomes a metaphor for the gap between illusion and reality that we are unable to bridge.
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