Circumstances

Anand Giridharadas’ TED talk “A tale of two Americas. And the mini-mart where they collided” was delivered in March, 2015 at an official TED conference in British Columbia, Canada.

Giridharadas’ talk is about the fracturing of modern America into an optimistic part that stills believes in a good life and more pessimistic one that is losing faith in the American Dream. This is also the societal context of his talk. Inequality is growing in the US and has been doing so for years. As the speaker puts it, “America is simultaneously the most and the least successful country in the industrialized world.” (ll. 88-89). The American middle class is actually shrinking, education is becoming more expensive, and more children than before go hungry and do not get an education.

This means that the idea of the A...