Paradigm Shift Essay

Tomoff 1 Alex Tomoff Mr. Fonash English 137H 6 December 2014 Don’t Deny This Decade: A Socio-historical Analysis of the Paradigm Shift in Lifestyles During the 1990’s Many Americans know that, now twenty-five years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Yet, most probably do not know about the subtle yet notable changes that this brought to the United States. Former German President Horst Koehler (2004-2010) stated, "The Berlin Wall was an edifice of fear. For twenty-eight years, East Germans could not even approach it. On Nov. 9, 1989, people danced on it — and the world looked different afterward" (1). After the defeat of the Soviet Union, Americans had nothing to fear. Consequently, this apathy allowed the 1990’s to vanquish the iconic passion and distinct morality of the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s during the heart of the Cold War, leaving behind a society plagued by nihilism, ignorance, and debility. Herbert London, President of the Hudson Institute, noticed this major departure from social activism, virtue, and appreciation during this era, which he documented in his work, Decade of Denial: A Snapshot of America in the 1990’s (2001). The Decade of Denial represents a perturbing paradigm shift, beginning in the early 1990’s and lasting arguably until the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The noteworthy movement toward indifference during this time period is most evident in the United States’ governmental policies, art, literature, and film. In the few decades leading up to the Decade of Denial, America was predominantly a progressive, zealous nation that strived to establish and support a lawful, equal, and moral Tomoff 2 society. The social zeitgeist of this time drove the nation through significant political events, such as the Civil Rights Movement and Johnson’s Great Society. This common desire to form a moral foundation for the U.S. became most apparent when one of the most influential people in the country tried to upset it. Not even President Nixon could get away with the Watergate Scandal, where he tried to steal important information from the Democratic Party headquarters in an attempt to win the 1972 election. His popularity ratings fell from 58% at the beginning of his second term to 24% after the disclosure of Watergate in July of 1974 (Smyth and Taylor 585). President Reagan continued to follow the theme of moral law when he fired over 11,000 PATCO air traffic controllers on strike in 1981. Reagan simply stated in a press conference that he fired them because they were in “violation of the law” for not upholding their civic responsibilities (1). Throughout the decades leading up to the 1990’s, the law was maintained with a fairly strict set of principles determined by the values of a zealous society. The U.S. was not just active on a domestic basic before the decade of denial; the country also maintained an international interventionist policy in order to uphold the principles of American exceptionalism. This policy sought to establish the American ideology at a global scale. For instance, Reagan prompted Operation Urgent Fury in 1983, when the U.S. invaded the small Caribbean island of Grenada in fear of the nation’s Communist Party potentially being a threat to Americans residing on the island. This fear was quite exaggerated, as Reagan likely just wanted to establish the military’s dominance at an international level after the failure of Vietnam. President Bush also saw the country participate in the Gulf War in an effort to keep Iraq, under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, from gaining control of Kuwait’s oil reservoirs. Interestingly, the war became known as the “Video Game War” due to the media’s constant presence on the frontlines of each battle. It is quite apparent that the U.S. wanted to maintain Tomoff 3 social order and law both at home and abroad leading up to the 1990’s, but this did not last for long. There was one major change that ended the American people’s desire to establish their global utopia, and that was the collapse of the Soviet Union in the December of 1991. Without a common enemy as substantial as the Soviet Union, the U.S. could not shape its ideology and principles according to the ideology that it was trying to fight against. After so many years of international pressure and conflict, the U.S. could definitively take the spot as the one and only world superpower. The American people could finally live out their lives knowing that they were safe from the world’s greatest evils, but this had numerous consequences. During the heart of the 1990’s, the U.S. fell into a period of social indifference and apathy, as there was no longer any motivation to continue building a moral stronghold. President Clinton’s foreign and domestic policies most clearly highlight this new approach to social issues during the Decade of Denial. For instance, Clinton initially began with an interventionist policy by participating in the civil war in Somalia. However, after Americans found out that nineteen soldiers were killed in 1993, they pressured Clinton to pull out of Somalia. They simply no longer wanted to fight for the safety of others abroad if that meant jeopardizing the well-being of their own people. More shockingly, the U.S. completely ignored the genocide between the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda during the mid 1990’s, where up to a million Rwandans were killed. This exemplifies the isolationist policy of the U.S. during the Decade of Denial; Americans simply wanted to maintain peace at home and stay removed from potentially perilous duties in foreign conflicts. Domestically, the U.S. also began to lose its sense of activism and passion for civic engagement. Clinton instituted a number of new weapons laws, such as the Brady Bill in 1993 Tomoff 4 and the Federal Assault Weapons Ban in 1994. While this legislation made it more difficult for Americans to buy various firearms, it is more important to look at what this meant symbolically for the nation. The guns themselves symbolize the American mentality and determination to fight for the nation’s principled foundation, especially regarding the few decades prior to the Decade of Denial. Yet, in the 1990’s, just as these guns were reduced in power and number, so too was the people’s desire to care. The 1990’s also saw another national scandal, but the American people responded much differently in this case compared to the Watergate Scandal. Clinton may have had sexual relations with a White House intern infamously known as Monica Lewinsky in 1998, but the American people simply did not seem to care. In fact, Clinton’s popularity ratings rose from 63% before the House impeachment vote to 73% after the vote (Smyth and Taylor 585). American satisfaction ratings were relatively high, and the people did not want to endanger the status quo. Herbert London writes in his work, Decade of Denial, “Americans have apparently reached a new level of cynicism. If the president is above the law, any rationalization can be employed to excuse his behavior” (120). Furthermore, when London asked a guest at a dinner party in the late 1990’s about Clinton’s affair, he responded, “The economy is doing well, and that’s all I care about” (120). The Lewinsky Scandal is one of the defining moments of the 1990’s that exposed the people’s desire to ignore moral issues in order to maintain their alleged utopia after the fall of the Soviet Union. All of this apathy did not go unnoticed, however, and the resulting critical response helped capture the depth of the Decade of Denial. The arts, literature, and film of the 1990’s tended to reflect the social direction – or lack thereof – in the United States. In the arts, deconstructionist critical theory began to become more popular. This literary theory suggested that no work could exemplify an absolute meaning. Rather, there could be multiple interpretations, some of which might contradict each other and Tomoff 5 still be perfectly acceptable. Jeff Koons’ “Balloon Dog” sculpture represents this movement fairly well, as he stated, “[The sculpture] is a very optimistic piece. It’s a balloon that a clown would maybe twist for you at a birthday party. But at the same time it’s a Trojan horse” (Sylvester 339). Essentially, Koons is commenting on the abstract nature of the sculpture that enables the work to take on so many diverse, individualistic meanings. This is exactly what happened in the U.S. during the 1990’s; people simply acquired individual worldviews and ignored the validity of other potential causes that might challenge their own. Fig. 1. Koons, Jeff. Balloon Dog (Orange). 2008. Sculpture. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Tomoff 6 The film industry also acknowledged the changes in American society during the 1990’s by continuing the development of the deconstructionist critical theory and introducing new character developments reflective of both new and old social norms. Regarding deconstruction, Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski from the Coen Brothers’ 1998 crime-comedy film The Big Lebowski is quite famous for his saying, “Yeah, well, ya know, that’s just, like, your opinion man” (28:30). The Dude represents the 1990’s lifestyle of social indifference; he truly does not seem to care what others think of him. Additionally, he is frequently portrayed as an incompetent and socially isolated character in the film. Essentially, he embodies the new anti-hero archetype in film.

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