104
For 99% of people, the 'American Dream' has always been a dream.
As Carlin said: it's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.
I realize there are lots of systemic things involved - usually this gets turned around on consumers as if all they need to do is properly separate their recycling and in their consumption, choose companies that are perfomatively greenwashing things.
But one thing individuals could do that would absolutely make a huge difference is to vastly curtail their intake of meat and dairy. In discussions like this, it always seems like people walk on eggshells around food, or not even discuss food at all, but it's the elephant in the room...
In fact, we have several states running the exact opposite direction of a solution when they ban cultured meat...
In media maybe, but on the ground amongst friends I've noticed a massive move away from meat. We've all, without even talking about it, started sharing more vegetarian and vegan recipes. It's definitely spreading grassroots style.
I think it comes down to the massive divide in Americans as always. Those who care are taking actions, while the conservatives eat three steaks and a couple pounds of bacon as always.
That's fantastic to hear (I've been vegetarian for 20+ years. I still eat eggs and dairy but in moderation), but I'm looking beyond the anecdotal and more at the structural issues. We have 8 states that have outlawed selling cultured meat, so from a policy standpoint, that's certainly problematic.
Also, when you see projections of per capita meat consumption, it doesn't seem like it's going down or even flatlining, but going up. If that remains true, but the focus is only on things like more solar/wind and using EVs, we still have a problem.
Unfortunately the discussion about what is on people's plate is something so triggering and so emotional for a certain type of individual (probably in the majority still at this point - I'll see people that are progressive as hell, and yet still, especially the males, falling for gender-coded nonsense about the value of eating meat and boasting about it.)
Attempts at rational conversations can easily be diverted into stupid cul-de-sacs by the proteinmaxxers and the manosphere nonsense (not eating meat is frequently discussed as something for women or for limp-wristed men), or even more absurdly the conspiracy theory nonsense: "you'll own nothing and be happy" - there are a lot of those prone to conspiracy theories that believe any rational discussion about climate and what's on your plate mean that you are falling for the Davos set wanting you to live in a shoe box and eat bugs, apparently.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/189222/average-meat-consumption-in-the-us-by-sort/
What's the dream? I fucking hate the average American... Even those that deem themselves a good one.
That says more about you than the average American.
I certainly hope so.
this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2026
104 points (100.0% liked)
politics
31727 readers
4105 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles. Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to US politics and contain quality and original content. Social Media adjacent hosts like Substack are allowed, but ONLY if they tie back to a company/subsidiary. No personal or friend group blogs and no self-promotion. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and re-hosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing other users of being bots or paid actors.
- No memes, trolling, misinformation, or low-effort posts/comments (including reposts). If you see posts like this that anger you, do not engage. Report, block, and live a happier life than they do. Any slap-fight is subject to comment removals. Fights full of rule violations will result in temporary bans to cool off.
- No manipulating votes via bots or alt accounts; this will result in permanent bans. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in an account ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be permanently banned.
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules and use critical thinking when reading, posting, and commenting. Users that repeatedly have comments or posts removed, weaponize reports, or violate the code of conduct, will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users. The reason(s) behind moderator action(s) are publicly available through the Modlog.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS