The Great Divide In The USA -- Politics , Or Is It Really Socialogical - A Grand Illusion ** Part One?

Question

**The Grand Illusion***

Welcome to the Grand Illusion
Come on in and see what's happening
Pay the price, get your tickets for the show
The stage is set, the band starts playing
Suddenly your heart is pounding
Wishing secretly you were a star.
But don't be fooled by the radio
The TV or the magazines
They show you photographs of how your life should be
But they're just someone else's fan-tasy
So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because you never win the game
Just remember that... it's a Grand illusion
And deep inside we're all the same.
We're all the same...

So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because your neighbors got it made
Just remember that it's a Grand illusion
And deep inside we're all the same.
We're all the same...
America spells competition, join us in our blind ambition
Get yourself a brand new motor car
Someday soon we'll stop to ponder what on Earth's this spell we're under
We made the grade and still we wonder who the hell we are

Yes , it's a STYX song , but it's also more than that . Feel free to express your thoughts on this .
And Part Two will really get ya in a few minutes!!

Some really outstanding answers . Hopefully a few other folks stop by .

Answer 1

This looks good...

1. Welcome to the Grand Illusion
• (DELUSION)
• The Grand Illusion is life itself. When a child is born into this world, he receives the gift of life. But he soon learns many things that distort his view of what his life really is all about.
2. Come on in and see what's happenning
• (ECOLOGICAL INFLUENCES)
• Life has so many things to offer. And you'll find both good and bad happennings all around you, which will influence your way of thinking.
3. Pay the price, get your tickets for the show
• (MATERIAL ATTRACTION)
• You pay a certain price (not neccessarily monetary) for everything in life. And the show represents the society in which we live and learn from. But people are always trying to look good in the eyes of others, and thus, they put on an act.
4. The stage is set, the band starts playing
• (SOCIETAL NORMS AND STANDARDS)
• "The stage is set" refers to society with its social norms and standards. And the "band starts playing" refers to your life as you learn these norms and you begin setting up goals for yourself.
5. Suddenly your heart is pounding
• (POSITIVE BIAS)
• You begin to feel excited and ambitious.
6. Wishing secretly you were a star
• (FALSE SELF-CONCEPT & ROLETAKING)
• You have a secret fantasy of being someone of high status and recognition. A star has fame and fortune, and you admire those who have it.
7. But don't be fooled by the radio, the T.V. or the magazines
• (MEDIA INTIMITATION)
• The media can be very misleading. It has the power to brainwash you into seeing their point of view. It can play-up a small story to make it seem major, and it can attack an issue or an individual. Or it can simply persuade you to buy a product. And you need to be aware of what the fact really are.
8. They'll show you photographs of how your life should be
• (INCOMPATIBILITY OF EXPECTATIONS)
• The media portrays life in such a way as to get your attention. For example, advertisements may portray life to be glamorous by using young, beautiful models wearing fancy clothes. And they seem to say that if you buy the product that they are selling, then your life will be as nice as their's.
9. But they're just someone else's fantasies
• (SPIRITUAL AWARENESS)
• The sort of lives that we see in the media are not reality for most of us. It's other people's lives, and therefore, it's only other people's dreams and ideals that we are looking at.
10. So if you think your life is complete confusion cause you never win the game
• (INTIMIDATION & NEGATIVE EMOTIONS)
• When you compete with your neighbors and fellow workers at moving up the social ladder, and you set your goals unrealistically high, you can fall short of it and end up being fustrated and unsatisfied.
11. Just remember that it's a grand illusion
• (FALSE ATTRACTIONS)
• You must keep in mind that the life that many of us consider to be ideal, is just an illusion. It's fantasy and not practical reality. Society has a way of making us loose track of our true identities because of the social norms and expectations pressured onto us. And the lives of people whom we admire and strive to be like, are probably just false fronts that they put up for the public to see.
12. And deep inside we're all the same
• (INNER CONSCIOUSNESS & OVERCOMING ROLE-CONFLICT)
• Although people differ in various ways on the outside (i.e. socialstatus, occupation, race, etc.) on the inside we're all just human beingswith emotions and feelings. And we're biologically the same. No oneperson is better than the next.
13. America spells competition, join us in our blind ambition
• (OBSESSION WITH MATERIAL WEALTH)
• In our American society, the system of capitalism meanscompetition between businesses. Everyone is trying to convince you to do business with them. And when people become so wrapped up with getting ahead and achieving success, they often fail to see the other things that are happenning to them and their inner meanings.
14. Get yourself a brand new motor car
• (MATERIAL GOODS)
• A brand new car, a Mercedes or Porsche for instance, is a sign of wealth and success.
15. But someday soon we'll stop to ponder
• (SPIRITUAL AWAKENING)
• One day we'll start to question the values that we put on wealth and success. And we'll question the power of the media.
16. What on earth's this spell we're under
• (PRESSURES OF SOCIAL FORCES)
• The spell is our societal norms and standards which we have learned to accept from the start, and only now begin the question.
17. We made the grade and still we wonder who the hell we are
• (NEED FOR SPIRITUAL AWARENESS & SELF-SATISFACTION)
• We learn that just because we may be well educated and perhaps successful business persons, we still lack something in our lives if we are not in touch with our inner selfves and spirituality.

Answer 2

I think you got it is an illusion keep alive so we think our side has all the anwser while the other is dismiss just because their views are counter to our own.

I think if we that prejudice out of the way I think we do a whole lot better as a country.

Answer 3

The great divide is philosophical, perhaps more than political. And I think it's getting tougher to see the line politically because of it.

Never before in the US has secular humanism and situational ethics had such a grip on Americans.

Answer 4

I do believe the times of 'The Grand Illusion' have morphed...I believe we are into....

High Crimes & Misdemeanors (Hip-Hop-Crisy)

They want you to believe
The unbelievable
They say you should accept
The unacceptable
Forget your common sense
It isn't sensible
Good times for fools and dreamers

Watch 'em all deny
The undeniable
See how they refute
The unrefutable
They're ready to defend
The indefensible
High times for lawyer schemers

They say we must forgive
The unforgivable
They want us to respect
The unrespectable
The pious and the hip
So hypocritical
High crimes and misdemeanors

Hip hop hip hop-cracy hip hop
Hip hop hip hop-cracy hip hop
Hip hop hip hop-cracy hip hop

See how they explain
The inexplicable
Watch 'em debate
The undebatable
Apparently a lie
Is never liable
Prime time for talk show screamers

They say we constitute
The Constitutional
With justice here for all
So justifiable
I'm tryin' not to laugh
But man it's laughable
High crimes and misdemeanors

Hip hop hip hop-cracy hip hop
Hip hop hip hop-cracy hip hop
Hip hop hip hop-cracy hip hop
Hip hop hip hop-cracy hip hop
Hip hop hip hop-cracy hip hop

And so
Today we find
They've changed their minds
They've switched their points of view

Oh what tangled webs they weave
When their beliefs ain't really
What they believe

They're trying to divide
The indivisible
Because they think we're fools
So foolable
I'm tryin' not to laugh
But man it's laughable
Boom times for Wall Street dreamers
They want you to believe
The unbelievable
They say we should accept
The unacceptable
The pious and the hip
So hypocritical
High crimes and misdemeanors

High crimes and misdemeanors
High crimes and misdemeanors

Hip hop hip hop-cracy hip hop
Hip hop hip hop-cracy hip hop
Hip hop hip hop-cracy hip hop
Hip

Answer 5

I always thought "Too Much Time On My Hands" was a much better song.

Answer 6

Well said, and by the way this country still rocks!

Answer 7

Yeah, it is a grand illusion, and you're one of the people who perpetuates this divide.

Answer 8

Good one!