What remains of the American Dream?

The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.

James Truslow Adams, “The Epic of America”

My interpretation of the American Dream has always been something like this: “Achieving a peaceful, independent life in freedom and harmony through hard work and dedication”.

What seemed to be a desirable life in every society, not just the American, has changed over time. Today I don’t hear a lot of people talking about “hard work” anymore.

People still learn, of course. Who knows? They might be on “Who wants to be a millionaire?” someday.

Want to be a singer? Sure, you could practice a lot, but to become an instant celebrity, just show Simon Cowell that you can make it, despite his claim that you look like shit (talk about irony).

As offline as online. “Buy my Ebook that will help you make 500k a day. You don’t even have to know how to build a website.”, “For just $5,000 a day I will tell you my big SEO secrets. Btw, what is a META tag?” or “I’ll blog about my poodle’s mood and plaster my blog with viagra ads. I’m the L33T M0N3Y D00D!”. You get my point.

Could it be that the American Dream nowadays is nothing more than a “I wanna be filthy rich! Fast! With no efforts!”?

And not just in the USA. People like that are a global pest.

Is there no dream left? Or am I just not seeing it, because the people mentioned above are giving me the creeps?