Following are additional chapter notes for The Average American
CHAPTER 1: “ALL THAT IS GREAT, GOOD OR BEAUTIFUL”
1 “all but invented the field of social statistics”: For one, nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale called Quetelet “the founder of the most important science in the whole world, for upon it depends the practical application of every other.”
2 “If an individual of any given epoch of society”: Quetelet also noted, in his 1831 text “Research on the Propensity for Crime at Different Ages”: “If the average man were ascertained for one nation, he would represent the type of that nation.”
4 “only 7 percent of U.S. homes,” Garrow, David J., “Images of a Growing Nation, From Census to Census,” New York Times, October 13, 2004.
4 “When a supercomputer was installed”: Figura, Susannah Zak, “Danger Zone,” GoveExec.com, November 1, 1999.
7 “a senator reportedly argued”: reported in a paper by San Jose State University professor David Mesher, for use in his English 7 course in the summer of 2001.
7 “Jefferson declared”: And in a letter to Jefferson, dated February 4, 1790, James Madison wrote that “in every society, the will of the majority binds the whole.”
7 “12.7 years of education”: C2
CHAPTER 2: “OBSCURITY IS FOREVER”
13 “‘Our greatest heroes are ordinary people’”: Spiers, Elizabeth, “FDNY H.S.,” New York magazine, September 27, 2004.
13 “writer credits still rolled”: And such writers are often not writing reality. The common practice of writers and producers making up their “reality” was explained in Entertainment Weekly: “Reality shows ‘create’ dialogue – and drama – by editing and mixing sound bites in a practice dubbed ‘Frankenbiting.’ Story editor Rebecca Hertz says she did it during the first season of The Swan to falsely illustrate how winner Rachel Love-Fraser was unhappily married. ‘In a pre-interview, I led her husband to say Rachel looks average but he thought she looked beautiful,’ recalls Hertz.. ‘I cut it down to him saying she looked average so he sounded like a mean, horrible a - - hole. He was furious when he saw the show.’” Rice, Lynette, “Writers Bloc,” Entertainment Weekly, July 8, 2005. Incidentally, that iconic average American scene, American Gothic, Grant Wood’s painting of the farm couple with a pitchfork, is not of real-life spouses. The two were not married and Wood painted each of the two models separately.
13 “Stanley wrote”: Stanley, Alessandra, “TV's Busby Berkeley Moment,” New York Times, January 30, 2005.
15 “raised three children”: Between 1946 and 1964 [when Wally had his children] the average American family had three or more children. McMahon, Tom, The Daily Nonpareil>, “Baby boomers: What were their contributions?” March 14, 2004
16 “Pennsylvania’s Normalville”: Nelson, S.B., Nelson's Biographical Dictionary and History Reference Book, 1900. Nelson writes, “Normalville, formerly Springfield, and also Elm, derives its name from the fact that a summer normal school is conducted there every year.”
17 “less than 30 percent from this group”: Those who were asked about giving up family time to “get ahead” were from the college classes of 2001 and 2004. Brier, Noah Rubin, “Y Work?” American Demographics online edition, September 14, 2004. Rubin quotes Harlan Wharman, director of corporate and market research for Northwestern Mutual, who helped create the study: “They're a very family and friend-oriented generation. They don't want to sacrifice their personal relationships in order to advance their career. Their values are more aligned with more traditional values. They're very driven by selfless goals. They want a career that has some core meaning to it. They're not driven by getting the highest pay. Rather, they're driven by positions that give them some overall sense of wellbeing.”
18 “the Supreme Court… what they meant by ‘community’”: moralityinmedia.org.
CHAPTER 3: THE MIDDLE WAY
>21 “Wichita Falls, Texas”: Wichita Falls’ governance has certainly been abnormal since September, 2004, the New York Times reports The police chief quit after being insulted by the new mayor at a city meeting. “I could have dope-slapped him,” council member Arthur Bea Williams (a woman named for her uncle) said of the mayor. “A man’s ego is about the only thing he has left.” The city manager and administrative director, who have been managing the city since the 1980s, were forced out of their jobs by the city council. The mayor was recalled from office, and two council members were being pushed toward the same. “I may be the last happy city employee left,” the fire chief said. He quit soon after. Blumenthal, Ralph, “In Nation’s ‘Most Average City,’ Uncommon Turmoil,” The New York Times, April 10, 2005.
22 “Corona”: The Corona slogan is “Miles Away from Ordinary.” In 2005 advertising, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus went with the slogan, “Saving the Day from the Ordinary.” An advertisement in Advertising Age in February, 2004 for the John Caples International Awards (an annual awards show for the direct response advertising industry) proclaimed, “An Invitation to Escape the Ordinary!” In 2005, Domino’s pizza began airing a commercial in which a Domino’s store manager instructs employees to offer a Tuesday special that will “rescue people from the average, the mundane.”
26-27 “‘the way people think’”/”‘a puzzle on your food wrapper’”/“‘you have to know more to be average’”: Abraham, Carolyn, “Researchers find IQs are rising, and TV might be a big reason,” Globe and Mail, January 6, 2001.
28 “In 1904, only 6 percent”: Sneller, Bob, “Many changes have occurred in our country,” Neosho Daily News, June 11, 2004.
30 “marry at least once in their lifetime”: As for the divorce rate, a 2005 New York Times story reported, “The method preferred by social scientists in determining the divorce rates is to calculate how many people who have ever married subsequently divorced. Counted that way, the rate has never exceeded about 41 percent, researchers say. Although sharply rising rates in the 1970’s led some to project that the number would keep increasing, the rate has instead begun to inch downward.” Hurley, Dan, “Divorce Rate: It’s Not as High as You Think,” New York Times, April 19, 2005.
31 “most Americans, like Jim and Judith, are parents”: In addition, the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services reported a Child Trends study which determined that 74 percent of adult (18 and older) females and 65 percent of adult males in the United States have had “at least one biological child in their lifetime.”
31 “the Nebraska attorney general”: The attorney general, Robert M. Spire, writing on February 3, 1988 on the subject “Identification and Election Relative to Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facility Site”: “Since neither the Governor’s Statement nor the Commission amendment provide for a definition of ‘community,’ it should be given its ordinary meaning. Black’s Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition, defines ‘community’ in part as: ‘Neighborhood; vicinity; synonymous with locality.’”
31 “regularly in bed before midnight”: The government’s American Time Use Survey found that, on average, Americans spend 8.6 hours per day sleeping. The average for weekdays in 8.3 hours, for Saturday 9.0 and for Sunday 9.6. Johnson, Bradley, “Day in the life,” Advertising Age, May 2, 2005
CHAPTER 4: ORDINARY MAGIC
35 “David Letterman regularly used to”: Letterman has also used the average American as a target of jokes. On November 1, 1994, his show’s Top Ten List was the “Top Ten Surprising Facts about the Average American.” Number one: “Hates job. Hates spouse. Hates life. Loves Cheetohs.”
35 “the Steve Martin film The Jerk”: Incidentally, another film character was identified as the earth’s most average resident, a New Jersey postal worker named Tommy. In “Zarkorr! The Invader,” a 1996 sci-fi picture, a 300-ton giant lizard with horns comes to earth to search for Tommy. Zarkorr believes that the most average person is the ultimate person to challenge to a test that will destroy the planet if Tommy loses. “Tommy is the only hope for the future of mankind,” reads a promotional line from the film. In the end, Tommy defeats Zarkorr.
37 “1.8 children, below the minimum population replacement figure of 2.1”: Lawrence J. Epstein, “The Conversion Solution,” Jerusalem Post, June 27, 2005.
37 “the average American vehicle at eight years old”: 8.3 years to be precise, according to the report “Policy Options for Environmental Pollution Control including a Case Study: Road Transport Alternatives” by Keith Roth, Sustainable Energy, ESD166J, May 1, 2001.
38 “When compared to the full U.S. population”: “Religion Helps Shape Wealth of Americans, Study Finds,” Ascribe News, September 17, 2003. The study’s leader was Lisa Keister, associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University.
39 “Catholic Democrats outnumber Catholic Republicans by only 3 percentage points”: Zapor, Patricia, “Party affiliation less likely to correlate to religion, poll shows,” Catholic News Service, September 14, 2004. Reports Zapor, “The fourth National Survey of Religion and Politics found that in the last dozen years Catholics have come close to being evenly divided between the Republican and Democratic parties, at 41 and 44 percent, respectively, up from 38 percent who were Republicans and 43 percent who were Democrats in 1992. The remainder of those surveyed said they were independents.. The survey was conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics of the University of Akron, Ohio.”
44 “even the Vatican under Pope John Paul II”: Dean, Cornelia, “Evolution as a taboo subject,” International Herald Tribune (via the New York Times), February 3, 2005
46 “this would disqualify 20 percent”: Sider, Ronald J., “The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience,” Baker Books, 2004.
46 “told Time magazine”: “Ku Klux Klan: Kleveland Konvention,” Time, June 23, 1924
CHAPTER 5: YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS
51 “a sculptor in northern California in 1969”: Schulman, David, “Built for Mediocrity,” Attache (US Airways), April, 2004. The sculptor’s name was Hobart Brown.
51 “told a local reporter,” Carroll, Tynisha, “Inner Harbor,” BaltimoreStories.com, 2003.
52 “the premier competitive goal of the professional leagues”: Averageness has also been championed in corporate America, sort of. In 2005, John Mack, the chairman of Morgan Stanley, signed a contract expressing that “he is entitled to the average annual salary, bonus and long-term performance awards of the chief executives at Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs” – his Wall Street peers. Dash, Eric, “Where 25 Million is Merely Average,” The New York Times, July 6, 2005.
53 “a marquee borrowed from”: Scott, A.O., “That Mythic American Hero: The Regular Guy,” New York Times, December 8, 2002.
55 “more than 30 percent of all Hispanic households”: 30.6 percent, Sacramento Business Journal, June 22, 2001.
57 “over 99 percent of people who have ever lived”: More precisely, 99.4 percent. Du Pont, Pete, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” The Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2004.
57 “average income Americans are better-off financially”: Also of note is the insight from demography historian Ben Wattenberg during his hosting of a PBS special, “The First Measured Century.” During a segment about Census 2000, Wattenberg said: “On its face, it appears that the wealthiest 5 percent of families not only earned more money than the bottom 40 percent, but that recently their share of income rose dramatically before leveling off. But there is more to the story. There has been a stunning rise in the average income of middle-class Americans over the century. Moreover, the fruits of modernization have been shared across the board. Most Americans, regardless of income, get the same pharmaceuticals, watch the same movies and videos, have the same mode of personal transportation, and share the same Internet… America is indeed becoming the first universal nation.”
57 “In 1999, American Consumers”: Russell, Cheryl, “Most Households Have Fun Money To Spend,” American Consumers, December, 1999
58 “the belief of Oliver Wendell Holmes”: Holmes’ quotes, and a more in-depth look at his views on this matter are shared in Jonah Goldberg’s January 7, 2005 National Review Online column, “Cutting the Fat.” In the column, Goldberg writes in part: “It is mostly thanks to him that we have what lawyers – and the rest of us – call the "reasonable man" doctrine. He didn't invent the phrase, but he's undoubtedly the reason we all know it… How does one determine what is reasonable? By in effect taking a statistical average of the community's standards. Early Pragmatists were deeply enamored with statistical techniques like the law of errors, which held -- sorta kinda -- that you could find the true answer to a problem by averaging out the wrong answers. For example, a room full of people -- any people -- will be better as a group at guessing how many jellybeans are in a jar than any individual in that group over time. Joe Blow may guess better than most, but given a series of opportunities the average answer of the whole group will be more accurate over time than Joe Blow's. The basic rule is that wrong guesses will cancel each other out. For every one that is too high, there will be one that is too low. The average therefore will be very close to accurate… The reasonable man was a composite, a statistical average of the aggregate human decency necessary to sustain a society. The reasonable man's behavior was the group average of moral conduct in a very moral country. Today, all of our arguments are about how much the society must bend to the behaviors and attitudes of the man of the fringe, the outlier, the arrow that sails farthest from the bulls-eye.”
61 “69 percent said no”: “Why so few Americans want to be famous,” Jet, October 12, 1998. The story also reports: “Dr. Paris M. Finner-Williams, a psychologist and attorney based in Detroit, believes that many people are shying away from the limelight because of the loss of privacy that fame brings. ‘People don't want to be judged, they want to relax," Dr. Finner-Williams notes. "They want to be at peace and comfortable with life, and sometimes, if you are famous, it lends to criticism and scrutiny. There are too many cameras on you, too many microphones in your face. You can't be relaxed, you can't be informal. You have to stay on the stage. The curtain is always up for people who are famous.’ Dr. Huberta Jackson-Lowman, Tallahassee, FL-based clinical community psychologist and Southern regional representative of the Association of Black Psychologists, agrees that Americans don't feel that fame is worth their privacy. ‘Usually all of us have some skeletons in our closet, and we don't want to expose those,’ Dr. Jackson-Lowman explains. ‘And once you become famous, everything is up for grabs, including your skeletons, which can be exposed at whatever point your enemy sees fit.’ People are also not interested in fame because of safety and security concerns, she points out. ‘There is an incredible amount of danger associated with being a famous personality. You attract a lot of fanatical kinds of people who may want to come after you to harm you. Some fans stalk entertainers’… Dr. Jackson-Lowman emphasizes that people simply don't want the stress that accompanies fame in this society. ‘When you are famous, you are always on display. There is a loss of freedom of movement. You can't move about as freely as an average citizen. There's always going to be a little stir about your presence. You might not be able to go out in blue jeans because people are going to respond to your presence, and your dress might be unacceptable in their eyes.’”
62 “not trying to be nationally known”: This criterion is a more concrete representation of the preceding opinion that most Americans prefer to live a life free of fame. It is the result of a majority opinion and is (as explained in the footnote on page 123) “affirmative” and “earned.”
63 “Vanessa Grigoriadis reported”: Grigoriadis, Vanessa, “Celebrity and its Discontents,” New York, July 25, 2005. Grigoriadis also noted, “Celebrities are twice as likely to develop a serious alcohol problem… Celebrity, as John Updike wrote, is the mask that eats into the face. A study has shown that pop stars use personal pronouns in their songwriting three times more once they become famous; another study claims that the more famous one gets, the more one checks oneself in the mirror, and the more one’s self-concept becomes self-conscious. It’s a problem, to be both self-involved and self-conscious.”
66 “‘money decouples from happiness’”: And this from Psychology Today: “Once you earn enough to afford the ordinary pleasures of middle-class life, more money does virtually nothing to lift your spirits. Middle-class people have more and better free time. They exercise more; they belong to more clubs, take more vacations and have a more active social life, and all of these leisure habits make them happier.” McGowan, Kathleen, “The Pleasure Paradox,” Psychology Today, February, 2005.
66 “‘they cannot be purchased with cash’”: Easterbrook, Gregg, “The Real Truth About Money,” Time, January 17, 2005
66 “In his 2002 book… ‘capacity for love’”: Wallis, Claudia, “The New Science of Happiness,” Time, January 17, 2005. The quotes in parenthesis are from Wallis.
CHAPTER 6: GUNS, GAMBLING, AND GIVING IT AWAY
71 “The goal of the ‘reality’ show”: The name of the show was “Playing It Straight.” A lot of the show was shot at Red’s Ranch, a guest lodge that the show changed to the name “Sizzling Saddles.” Harding, Adella, “TV series brings fame, money to town,” Elko Daily Free Press, March 14, 2004.
71 “the national average will stay under $300,000”: Maybe even $200,000. The National Association of Realtors reported that in 2002, the average home value was $158,200. Having a $158,200 ceiling on this criterion would not have changed the outcome of the search.
74 “more than half a trillion dollars”: Scarne, John, “Scarne's New Complete Guide to Gambling,” Fireside Books, 1986. Scarne notes: “$500 million, a figure which has since been accepted by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Gambling Investigations, the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service.” This dollar-figure has risen since the book was published.
76 “there are around 5,200 arrests per 100,000 people”: According to an October 25, 2004 FBI press release, this number is closer to 5,100: “In 2003, law enforcement in the Nation's cities collectively reported an arrest rate of 5,109.3 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants.”
77 “6 percent of the world’s population, but 59 percent of the world’s wealth”: Jeon, Arthur, “City Dharma,” Harmony Books, 2004.
CHAPTER 7: SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW
82-83 “The radio division of the Office of War Information… mileage-rationing bandwagon”: The source is J. Fred MacDonald.
84 “After reading about the marathon”: I was also intrigued by the fact that on a marathon website, a reviewer from Lawrence, Kansas give the race two and a half stars out of five. Marathonguide.com, March 31, 2003
85 “Saucony had risen”/”Fisher told USA Today”: Jones, Del, “Saucony CEO puts his foot down on loyalty,” USA Today, October 18, 2004
85 “celebrating increased sales”: “One-on-one with Jim Davis,” SportsBusiness Journal, December 20-26, 2004. The magazine reported that the company’s global sales “increased from $210 million in 1991 to $1.3 billion in 2003.”
86 “the recreational interests”: The New York Times, December 6, 2004.
91 “ranking twenty-second… thirty-second”: Rombeck, Terry, “Holy Hotcakes!” Lawrence Journal-World, July 27, 2003. Rombeck reports that when the first calculation is applied, Florida is the flattest state and when the second calculation is applied, Delaware is the flattest.
92 “average finish time for community marathons”: average as in median, reported in a press release issued by the USA Track & Field Road Running Information Center on April 11, 2001.
95 “more than 20 inches of rain per year”: As for the average U.S. rainfall, Jan Null, a former lead forecaster with the National Weather Service, writes that “if an area-weighted average were done for the entire United States, it would be about 30 inches.” Null, Jan, “Weather Corner,” San Jose Mercury News, November 6, 2001.
95 “between 54 and 55 degrees”: separately, cnsnews.com reported that in 2000, the average was 54.1-54.2 degrees.
96 “the average American age”: Forget the notion that the warm-weather states are the havens for older citizens. Based on 2004 estimates, the states with the oldest median ages are Maine (40.6), Vermont (40.2), West Virginia (40.2) and Montana (39.5). “The USA’s middle ages at a glance,” USA Today, March 10, 2005. These states are still below the median age in Japan (42.9) and Europe (40.7). El Nasser, Haya, and Overberg, Paul, “Youthquakes shake up gray-haired states,” USA Today, March 10, 2005.
97 “the nation’s retirement programs and services”: Of note: “The ratio of workers to retirees is shrinking. Just after World War II, there were 16 workers supporting each retiree. Today, that ratio is 3 to 1. By 2030, it will be less than two workers per retiree.” Navarrette, Ruben, “Younger generations can’t afford to ignore crisis,” Dallas Morning News, December 23, 2004
97 “a July 2003 front-page story on the report”: The headline of the article is “Dreaming up demo ammunition.”
97 “all three branches of the government”: The three branches of the government are executive, judicial and legislative. The percentage that does not know all three branches of the government, although in the majority, may not be as high as the 83 percent cited in one study. The Utah State Courts’ 2003 Annual Report to the Communities cites a national study that concluded, “60% of Americans can’t name all three branches of the government.”
98 The presentation was made by Dr. Richard L. Corsi, a Raymond F. Dawson Centennial Teaching Fellow and Director of the Texas Institute for the Indoor Environment, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
98 “six minutes”: According to the February 5-11, 2004 North Bay Bohemian, citing Cosmopolitan
98 “most American adults rate”: sexualwellbeing.com, 2003.
98 “sex life starts at 16”/“14.3 sexual partners”: Woods, Stacey Grenrock, “sex,” Esquire, November, 2003, cites “2001 Global Sex Survey by Durex condoms.”
98 “between 6 and 7 inches”: closer to 6. In 1948, noted sex researcher Alfred Kinsey found the average length to be 6.21 inches. A survey sponsored by Durex condoms placed the average at 6.4 inches.
98 “size 36C”: Lexington Herald Leader.
99 “bottomless rattlebag of measurements”: One I have found of interest to many: on average, Americans consumes 1,300 pounds of food per year. Akron Beacon-Journal, April 10, 2004. Also, the average American took out 118 meals from restaurants in 2002, a 64 percent increase from 1984. At home, 53 percent of suppers “actually involve turning on the stove, down from 67 percent in 1985.” Adler, Jerry, “Takeout Nation,” Newsweek, February 9, 2004.
99 “52 items of clothing annually”: “Harper’s Index,” Harper’s, cites 2002 annual figure
99 “according to the National Sizing Survey”: National Sizing Survey press release, “SizeUSA National Sizing Data Available,” March 5, 2004
99 “He hopes to die at home”: Reuters, April 15, 2004, reported 90 percent of Americans said they prefer to die at home. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 25 percent actually do.
99 “his soul will travel to a spiritual place after he passes”: According to an August, 2005 Newsweek/Beliefnet poll, 67 percent of Americans said they believe “the soul goes to heaven or hell.” “Where We Stand on Faith,” Newsweek, September 5, 2005.
99 “PB&J sandwiches at least once a month”: PB&J as in peanut butter and jelly. According to WFHM-FM in Cleveland, “the average child will have 1,500” PB&J sandwiches before high school graduation.
100 “inappropriate for the F-word to be used on broadcast television”: The Barna Research Group, July 26, 2004
100 “he does not properly wash his hands”: Ensley, Gerald, “Carting around more germs than groceries,” Tallahassee Democrat, January 16, 2005. Ensley attributed the finding of 83 to 84 percent to Chuck Gerba, a University of Arizona environmental-microbiology professor nicknamed “Dr. Germ.”
100 “research led by a physician at the University of Maryland”: Tanner, Lindsey, Associated Press, November 25, 1997
101 “To be clinically overweight by the Quetelet Index”: One colossal problem with the index – long used for insurance industry mortality scales – was explained by Dr. Katherine Flegal, a statistician for the National Center for Health Statistics”: Those scoring 25 or higher on the index are categorized as overweight, yet those over and under the BMI mark of 25 have the highest possibility of decreasing their total life spans. If you hit 25, the optimal score, you are overweight! George W. Bush, noted for being in good physical shape, scored a BMI of 26.4, over the “overweight” mark of 25. Kolata, Gina, “Tell the Truth: Does This Index Make Me Look Fat?” The New York Times, November 28, 2004. The BMI score is calculated by multiplying weight in pounds times 705, dividing by height in inches, then dividing again by height in inches. Revealingly, a 2005 University of North Carolina study found that based on the index, 56 percent of NFL players were classified as obese. Hellmich, Nanci, “Based on body index, 56% of NFL players are obese,” USA Today, March 2, 2005. Bo Jackson, perhaps the most revered multi-sport athlete of the past quarter century, was obese on the BMI at the peak of his athletic career. Malone, Jann, “Why Figuring the Fat is Important,” Richmond Times Dispatch, December 15, 2002. Also of note: actor Tom Cruise “is clinically obese” on the BMI. Luik, John, “Junk Science: Obesity,” National Post’s Financial Post, June 17, 2004. The New York Times reports that Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, a Rockefeller University obese researcher (he discovered lepin, a hormone that comes from fat cells), has found that “national data do not show Americans growing uniformly fatter.” Kolata, Gina, “The Fat Epidemic: He Says It’s an Illusion,” The New York Times, June 8, 2004.
101 “routinely leave out those under twenty years old”: As for that group, findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey determined that 10 preschoolers are overweight and 15 percent of children between 6 and 19 are overweight. Dworkin, Norine, “Don’t let your child grow up to be fat,” Family Circle, April, 2004.
102 “until 1998… became overweight”: Cain, Herman and Dan Gainor, “A Beef With Media Bias on Obesity,” Investor’s Business Daily, January 7, 2005. Cites USA Today’s Nancy Hellmich and Rita Rubin as source.
102 “less than 8 percent of American adults weigh more than 250 pounds”: 2004 IHRSA/ASD Obesity Weight Control Trend Report.
102 “between 145 and 195 pounds”: A National Center for Health Statistics report, based on 2002 figures and released in October, 2004 puts the average weights for the U.S. population higher than one of these marks and lower than the other: 164.3 pounds for women and 191 pounds for men. Fox, Maggie, “Americans a Bit Taller,” Reuters, October 27, 2004. The Journal of the American Medical Association, October 4, 2000, put the average weight of the American woman at 151 pounds and the average American man at 187 pounds. As it happened, the weight of the most average American also fell between the two spectrums reported above.
102-103 “‘Competitive cyclists weigh more’”/ “the national smoking rate declined… ‘quite as much as we think it is’”: Kolata, Gina, “Exchanging Cigarettes For Bagels,” The New York Times, December 19, 2004
103 “110 pounds on average, placing them on the 2 percent fringe”: Women models are also 5 feet 11 on average, significantly above the 5-4 average among all U.S. women. Jeon, Arthur, “City Dharma,” Harmony Books, 2004. o
103 “The Centers for Disease Control was recently forced to admit”: For a detailed account of this news, please see Maureen Martin’s article in Health Care News from May 1, 2005, accessible at: http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=16860
103 “jobs that require heavy lifting”: A downturn was also chronicled in Newsweek in 2005: “Physically-active jobs were the norm in 1950, but sedentary employment is now twice as common.” Cowley, Geoffrey, and Springen, Karen, “Designing Heart-Healthy Communities,” Newsweek, October 3, 2005. Notably, the magazine also reported that from 1991 to 2001, there was a 23 percent attendance drop in physical education classes. “The Making of a Sedentary Nation,” Newsweek, October 3, 2005.
104 “about 75 percent of American snack”: Herald-Dispatch (Huntington, West Virginia), November 28, 2004, cites American Dietetic Association
104 “In 2003, Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation, was also the most overweight”: Mississippi was also ranked first in weight in 2004. McNeil Jr., Donald G., “Obesity Rate Is Nearly 25 Percent, Group Says,” New York Times, August 24, 2005
104 “earn enough money in thirty-six days… South Carolina”: Charleston Post and Courier, February 8, 2004
104 “asked to define themselves”: The Hartman Group market research company.
105-106 “‘were judged to be significantly more attractive… we have never seen it before’”: Langlois, Judith H., “The Question of Beauty,” Discovery (University of Texas), August 6, 1997
111 “According to a 2004 story”: Clatyton, Mark, “Organic lawns: it’s easy being green”: Christian Science Monitor, May 20, 2004
112-113 “only 10 percent of American children walk to school”/“more roads, sewers… in the world”: Mogavero, David, “The road to our sprawl,” Sacramento Bee, June 6, 2004.
105 “a better job of portraying beauty”: In the August 22, 2005 Advertising Age, the magazine reported results of another survey – the magazine’s online poll about whether more marketers “should use ‘real women’ in advertising.” Eighty-seven percent of the respondents said they should.
105 “the campaign’s featured models”: The featured models were advertising Dove’s cellulite-firming products. Also of note is a Nike print campaign that broke in 2005. As reported in Advertising Age: “In the latest nod to ‘real’ women – and the latest blow to the wafer-thin body image – Nike has introduced a campaign that celebrates women’s big butts, thunder thighs and tomboy knees.” Thomaselli, Rich,”Beauty’s New, Er, Face,” Advertising Age, August 15, 2005. Reported New York Times advertising columnist Stuart Elliott two days later: “Madison Avenue is increasingly interested in using everyday women in advertising instead of just waifish supermodels.” Elliott, Stuart, “For Everyday Products, Ads Using the Everyday Woman,” New York Times, August 17, 2005. Interestingly, the average American woman’s measurements are 37-29-40 but the average department store mannequin is 34-23-34. Herrmann, Andrew, “What women go through to look slim and busty,” Chicago Sun-Times, September 2, 2004.
107 “The average America with rural roots”: This was also apparent in an analysis of the first 1,512 American military men and women who died in Iraq: 40.5 percent “were from the suburbs” and 33.3 percent “were from rural areas.” Korb, Lawrence J., and Holmes, Nigel, “Two Years and Counting,” New York Times (Op-Ed), March 20, 2005.
107 “the majority of Americans are suburbanites”: Brookings Review, Summer, 2000: “At the dawn of the 21st century, most Americans live in suburbs.” Brookings Institute, Jeffrey M. Sellers, Department of Political Science, USC, Draft Report, June 15, 2003: “During the decade from 1991 to 2001, suburbanites grew to a majority of the U.S. population for the first time.”
107 “‘no longer a detectable frontier line’”: Lemann, Nicholas, “A Better Place to Live,” Washington Monthly, September, 1994
109 “about 40 percent of the nation’s poor live in suburbs”: According to a Census Bureau report released in August, 2004, the figure was 38.5 percent and rising – up from 20.5 percent in 1970 and 35.9 percent in 2000. Dreier, Peter, “Poverty in the Suburbs,” The Nation, September 20, 2004.
111 “2 percent of rural residents”: 1.78 percent: ruralstrategies.org.
112 “the number of miles Americans travel… Walton County east of Atlanta”: McKee, Bradford, “As Suburbs Grow, So Do Waistlines,” The New York Times, September 4, 2003
114 “‘it was the average American who was the real source’”: The New York Times, March 29, 1969. A couple Eisenhower middle-of-the-road quotes of note: “The middle of the road is all the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters”/“Extremes to the right and left of any political dispute are wrong.”
CHAPTER 8: GOING COASTAL
122 “‘to correct their vision’”: Henderson, Diedtra, Associated Press, September, 2004
123 “A landmark 2003 study by Harvard and Oxford scholars”: Wade, Nicholas, and Wilford, John Noble, “New World Ancestors Lose 12,000 Years,” New York Times, July 25, 2003
124 “an unseasonably hot afternoon”: August 6, 2003. The next day, CNN International reported that the 6th was hottest day ever recorded in London.
126 “the ability to speak it fluently”: Incidentally, a 2005 Census Bureau analysis determined, as reported in the New York Times, “21 percent of all women who gave birth in California in the last year and 14 percent in Arizona, Nevada and Texas either did not speak English well or did not speak it at all.” Lewin, Tamar, “Data on Marriage and Births Reflect the Political Divide,” The New York Times, October 13, 2005.
128 “63 percent of Americans… 72 percent of these cases”: Faces & Voices of Discovery press release, “Poll Finds Addiction has Impacted the Lives of 63 Percent of Americans,” May 14, 2004.
131 “how far most of the population lives from the ocean”: Grassle reported 50 miles and the New York Times article reported 100 miles.
CHAPTER 9: FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN
133 “you have some well-known competition”: Of course, it’s not just males. In its September 13, 2004 issue, People magazine included this quote from Jenna Bush, who was describing her mother, First Lady Laura Bush: “She’s a normal woman.” Tennis, in its May, 2004 issue, included this quote from tennis star Venus Williams: “I’m just a regular girl, I really am.” The magazine reported that Williams was commenting “on her need to accessorize, after showing off her diamond-encrusted earrings in Australia.” The wife of musician Rob Thomas, speaking of her and Thomas’ new New York suburban home, told the television show EXTRA, for the February 17, 2004 episode, “Doing normal things, to us, is very exciting.” Reported In Style magazine: “After a couple years of boisterous big-city living, musician Rob Thomas and his wife, model Marisol, discover nirvana in the suburbs of New York.”
133 “with celebrities, ordinariness is in”: Not that this is a new development. John Wayne once declared, “I’m just an ordinary goddamn American and I talk for all the ordinary goddamn Americans, the butchers and bakers and plumbers. I know these people; I know what they think.”
135 “142 votes across the nation”: reported by thegreenpapers.com.
139 “the average number of television channels in U.S. homes”: In 2004, Variety reported that “the average viewer” has 100 channels and views a minimum of 15 on a regular basis. Lowry, Brian, “Games nets play obscure hunt for bigger prize,” Variety, July 24, 2004. Based on households and the growth in channels, the above numbers have been eclipsed.
140 “a middle-income household”: In 2003, the Washington Times reported a larger span: “One way economists define the middle class is to divide American families into five equally sized groups, with 20 percent of families in each group. The lowest fifth includes families who earn less than $24,000 a year, and the top fifth covers families who earn more than $165,000 annually.” Baker, Chris, “What is middle class?” Washington Times, November 30, 2003.
140 “In 2003, this middle-range stretched”: CB, August, 2004 report, “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2003.”
144 “This seeming incongruity”: Writes former White House counsel John W. Dean, “In short, the data show that that the culture war is not arising from a genuinely divided America. Rather, it is a tool of those political and cultural activists who seek to keep things stirred up, and a creation of a news media more interested in conveying conflict than sorting out facts from fiction. In short, the cultural polarization of America is a myth.”
Dean, John W., “A Closer Look At the Red State/Blue State Divide: It Is Mostly Hokum,” FindLaw, December 3, 2004.
144f “Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democracy”: And outside the U.S., such appeals go back much further. In 343 B.C., Greek philosopher Aristotle noted, “The most perfect political community must be amongst those who are in the middle rank.”
146 “an average of at least 500 a day”: some studies have even placed this number in the thousands – for example, “3,000 ads a day through different forms of media”: Jeon, Arthur, “City Dharma,” Harmony Books, 2004.
CHAPTER 10: AVERAGE AMERICAN VOTER
154 “the majority of local politicians are Democrats”: This Democratic lead is expected to remain in part because of the growing Hispanic population. Reported Campaigns & Elections in September, 2002, “Nearly 90 percent of the nation’s 5,170 Hispanic elected officials are Democrats.”
155 “more than 60 percent of the population reads books”: this figure was extrapolated from the NEA report figure of 56.6 percent of U.S. adults having read a book in the previous year. The 2004 NEA report chronicled figures from 2002.
155 “on average, Americans have nine friends”: ABC’s “Good Morning America”
157 “dental appointment”: According to the Centers for Disease Control, those 2 years and older who went to the dentist in the past year went from to 64.9 percent in 1997 to 65.2 percent in 1999 to 64.5 percent in 2002.
163 “‘I am not, as they say, in the loop’”: In character, Tomlin went on to say, “I am here to represent the millions of average Americans who helped to make up Oprah’s audience. We provide her with most of her subject matter. On many shows, I could have been an expert. My family, like all others, is dysfunctional.”
163 “Most teachers are female”: Seventy-one percent of teachers are female, CB reported in an April 22, 2004 press release on May’s Teacher Appreciation Week.
163 “at least as well off financially”: Time/CNN poll, 70 percent better off than parents.
164 “compared to their parents”: “Where Do You Fit In?” New York Times, May 15, 2005
164 “their social class when they were growing up”: “A Land of Opportunity,” The New York Times, May 15, 2005.
164 “a separate 1999 survey”: 53 percent, according to the Public Agenda survey.
164 “nearly 45 percent of American sixty-year-olds”: 44 percent, according to a 2001 AARP survey. In 1960, the percentage was 24 percent.
166 “roughly 65 percent of Americans”: Survey Sampling International reported 65 percent.
169 “Wal-Mart, where more than 80 percent”: BusinessWeek reported that in 2002, “82% of American households made at least one purchase at Wal-Mart.” Bianco, Anthony, and Zellner, Wendy, “Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?” BusinessWeek, October 6, 2003.
170 “5 feet 4 inches…5 feet 9-1/2 inches”: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on 2002 findings. The CDC also reported that on average, women and men in the U.S. grew about one inch from 1960 to 2002.
170f “the nation’s five largest employers were”: Dallas Morning News, May 18, 2004
CHAPTER 11: SON OF THE FATHER OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN
180 “if he held some kind of secret”: Harvard psychology professor Daniel Wegner noted, “In a very deep sense, you don’t have a self unless you have a secret, and we all have moments throughout our lives when we feel we’re losing ourselves in our social group, or work or marriage, and it feels good to grab for a secret, or some subterfuge, to reassert our identity as somebody apart.” Carey, Benedict, “The Secret Lives of Just About Everybody,” New York Times, January 11, 2005. A survey found that 75 percent of Christian men “have secrets they won’t share with anyone.” Lackey, Terri, “Christian men urged to beware of falling into sexual sins,” The Baptist Standard (via BP News), October 3, 2003.
182 “stupid oafs”/”big defender of the average American”: Luther, Claudia, “Burns ‘Bud’ Roper, 77: Pollster Who Changed Focus of Questions,” Los Angeles Times, January 23, 2003
184 “eight established towns in the Gold Coast area sport a median combined household income of $155,655”: This was based on Census 2000 findings for Darien, Easton, Greenwich, New Canaan, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport and Wilton. “Study fails to find ‘average’ Connecticut town,” Associated Press, June 18, 2004.
184 “the nation’s most profitable cable television network”: Variety.com, March 16, 2005
184 “in danger of closing”: In May, 2005, the Pentagon recommended the closing of the sub base. The Pentagon recommendation was rejected by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission and the base remained open.
185 “twenty-eight of the state’s rural towns”: “Study fails to find ‘average’ Connecticut town,” Associated Press, June 18, 2004.
CHAPTER 12: THE AVERAGE AMERICAN
189 “a number of fast-food restaurants”: Among the outlets in the town of the Average American: the four “limited service restaurants” with at least five percent of U.S. market share. According to the Advertising Age 2005 Fact Book, these four restaurants are McDonald’s, with 19.5 percent U.S. market share; Burger King, 7.0; Wendy’s, 6.5; and Subway, 5.0.
190 “roughly equaled the number,” Hall, Dan, Associated Press, September 13, 1980. Hall reported that there were “more than 100 anti-Klan demonstrators” and “about 100” at the rally.
195 “his will bequeathed”: Bayles, Richard M., “History of Windham County,” W.W. Preston & Company, 1889
209 “dark hair, as do most Americans”: only about 9 percent of Americans have blond hair. Washington Times, June 6, 2002.
211 “satisfied…in their local community”: In January, 2005 Gallup reported that 76 percent are satisfied with the way things are going in their community. Also of note is the 1999 American Housing Survey, which found that on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the best), 87 percent of home owners and 73 percent of renters “gave their neighborhoods a rating of 7 or better.”
211 “study on happiness”: “Just How Happy Are We?” Time, January 17, 2005.
213 “fishing, which 58 percent of Americans have experienced”: Free-Lance Star, January 12, 2001. The same percentage was later reported by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
224 “a routine physical over the past year”: 69 percent according to “News Hour with Jim Lehr” (PBS), January, 2000. The Centers for Disease Control reported that in 2002, 54.1 percent of all residents visited primary care physicians.
NOTES
233 “‘more
upscale and younger’”: The headline of the article is “How Will TV Survive Its
Own Reality Show?”
237 “Wal-Mart saved Americans”: The headline of the article is “Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?”
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