I can do anything I want, and so can you

Chez, Miami-raised New Yorker, notes on Deus Ex Malcontent:

Quite possibly the biggest lie that America has ever been willing to swallow whole is the seemingly benign assertion that anyone is capable of anything...that there isn't a force in the universe powerful enough to stop you from making your most outlandish desires come true.

Except that there is; it’s of course called reality.

If you watch American Idol — and judging by the ratings, you’d rather have elective eye surgery than miss it — you know that reality occasionally goes by a more specific name: Simon.

...At the core of ridiculous efforts like these is one common misconception: that because America was founded on the principle that all are created equal, all actually turn out equal.