Wilton Lemieux’s faith in the American Dream died at an ExxonMobil pump. He remembers rage at yet another gas price hike, then clarity, then an ache to vent about what he couldn’t train his brain to stop noticing, like how sad his mom’s neighbor looked when she talked about working for 41 straight years and not being able to afford a vacation for the last 12.
So he pulled out his phone and filmed a takedown of the American Dream.
He drove home and went to bed, expecting a bit of grief from his Army buddies. Then he woke to 25,000 comments that were overwhelmingly supportive.
In seven hours, his few dozen followers blew past 30,000.Here was an audience for ideas the younger version of himself would have found unpatriotic. A potentially lucrative one, too, from what he understood about the attention economy.
Maybe he could make it in America by arguing that you can’t.
