It’s all about the Benjamins by Simon Kubrom

She should be getting ready to graduate from high school this spring. She should be preparing for business school and looking forward to owning a hair salon someday. However, Sydnee Williams, won’t go on to accomplish these things since she died in a car crash just shy of her 18th birthday because she was texting and driving on an Ohio highway (Bowerman). Through the years Americans have been shifting their focus from spiritual beings to materialistic objects like cell phones, computers, and any other electronic devices. It is said that 12 million more Americans are using social networking many times daily (Baer). In American Gods the protagonist, Shadow, is caught in the middle of the war between the “new gods” and “old gods” over control of the new world inhabitants. With the development of new technologies, ideas and desires change to give time to the new of the world and through this shift we forget much of what we started with and this creates an unseen battle of old and new in order to please our pleasure-seeking desires creating for a loss of our foundations.
In history before the formation of modern America, places such as Greece, Russia, and Egypt spent their lives worshiping gods who fulfilled their wants and desires for the return of offerings and praise. One god that played a large role in Norse Mythology and American Gods is Loki the god of mischief. In Norse Mythology, Loki was known to pull a “fast one” over the other gods or another that stood in his way from accomplishing his desires and needs. Neil Gaiman came to Arizona in April to speak about his book, and he briefly spoke about one of Loki’s tricks that he read about. The gods needed to build a wall to keep all intruders out, but none of them could build this wall. So, there was a man that approached the gods and promised them that he could build the highest and the thickest wall in three seasons in exchange for the sun, moon, and the most beautiful goddess. All the gods rejected this proposal, but Loki had other plans and he managed to convince all the gods he was right. He agreed to the terms with this man but instead of three seasons, the man only had one. The man immediately got to work and worked endlessly day and night, and finally it came to the last day and it seemed as if the man was actually going to do this impossible task. All the gods were frightened and enraged that they agreed to these terms that Loki set, but Loki had one more trick up his sleeve. The horse that this man used to bring the bricks suddenly became distracted and the man was unable to fulfill his end of the deal, and was set away with only 12 bricks left to add. The gods were happy and soon they realized that Loki was the reason why the man’s horse was distracted (McCoy). Loki performed these same kind of tactics as displayed in American Gods when he and Odin fooled all the gods to interact in war amongst each other (Gaiman 673). Loki was known to be worshipped for his mischievous acts by the people of Scandinavia, and he was also worshipped by King Gorm of Denmark. The King was on a voyage and hoped for good weather throughout and everyone on the ship prayed to a multitude of gods, but King Gorm prayed to his favorite, Loki, and received the weather he wanted (Loptson). Instead of worshipping media or technology people used to worship gods of tricks or gods of war to pair with their culture during that time of the world.
In recent times with the advancements of technology we see more and more Americans focus on what is happening in the cyber world. Statistics show that Americans on average spend 4.7 hours out of their 15 hours awake on their cellular devices (Chung). It seems that Americans nowadays care a lot more about what others are doing and what is being said. American lives are dictated on what is said on social media, and it seems that these people care about Tinder, Twitter, and Facebook more rather than what happening in society and the world. Majority of the American population do everything with their phones whether that be eating, driving, or even sleeping. Folks these days have lost touch with their basic roots and simply don’t care, and their reasoning is, “It doesn’t affect me now so why should I care?” This shift is also seen when Mr. World kidnaps Shadow. Mr. World tells Shadow, “Tell him that we are the future and we don’t give a fuck about him or anyone like him” (Gaiman 70). This just echoes how life is in present times, the “new gods” or technology is slowly taking over American lives and simply don’t care.
For many years religion was the main focus in almost all American’s life, and these people lived their lives based on either the teachings of the Bible, the Torah, or any other holy scriptures. “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” (Bellamy). This is the pledge of allegiance that Americans used to say on a regular basis and in the pledge it refers that the United States is “one nation under God.” As time progressed many people began to stop saying the pledge and would rather be on their phones. This shift can be dated back to when the first settlers came to America. Gaiman states in American Gods, “America has invested her religion as well as her morality in sound income-paying securities” (Gaiman 429). This quote describes manifest destiny and the search for wealth and prosperity because that is what god would have wanted. With new technology people are able to make money without leaving their homes. A famous YouTube couple made over $100,000 by just sitting at home and making videos. Another man by the name of DC Youngfly became a twitter sensation and began to gain popularity, and now makes hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to manifest destiny these people are doing exactly what god would want them to, but in the same scope lost connection with their beliefs because it’s all about the money nowadays. People care more about their net worth and how much money they can make rather than their belief system.
The shift that Neil Gaiman portrays in American Gods is the same shift that is seen in modern America. People do not care anymore if you are Christian, Catholic, Muslim, or even Atheist, all people care about is which new iPhone is out or is Kim and Kanye going to last. The ultimate reason why this is happening because of one thing and one thing only, money. American’s no longer care about religion and afterlife, but care about how much money they can make in this lifetime. The more that is to be made the better life becomes, and who cares about religion when you are wealthy. Just look at Bill Gates, this man has made a fortune through technology, but does he care about his personal beliefs.
 

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