Shared Experiences Anyone?

The Super Bowl had the highest number of people watching it than any television show in history. This number is skewed however in the sense that the 106 million people who watched the program represent a significantly smaller percentage of the population than the 105 million that watched the MASH finale in 1983. Our culture is splintered. The thread of common experience in today's culture of hundreds of television channels, the internet and much much more is a small thread indeed. I remember going into office's and noting that almost any industry has it's own trade magazine. Waste Management, Collections, Convenience stores, Petroleum companies, they all have their own publications as do most industries. This is how our entire culture is now. Republicans watch Fox, Democrats watch MSNBC, Black folks can watch BET, History buffs watch history, Game show addicts watch the Game Show network. Sat Radio lets us listen to music channels that are specifically programmed to what we like. This as a consumer can have a huge appeal. There is a danger however, if we only listen to music we know we like how do we broaden our horizons. If we watch television we only watch people who agree with us and are in our comfort zone. We all have heard stories about when President Kennedy died that the country had the shared experience that bound them together over that weekend. However at that time shared experience was much more common. The top rated television shows had audience shares that the highest rated shows today only dream about. When we talk about American Idol today at work with our counterparts or for my friends and I when the Sopranos were on we would talk about it the next day. We were friends, in the same demographic and socioeconomic group, all in the same place ( roughly) in our lives. This was not really a shared experience in that sense. People outside of our group, that we did not have much in common with were most likely not watching this show. No, a shared experience, is when a wide and diverse group of people share an experience which tightens the bonds of community. Should we depend on television to do this for our society. Of course not. However at this point anything would help bring is togjjether. A book was written a few years ago called Bowling Alone. It talked about how the joining culture of the 50's and 50's primarily of men has ended. I know this firsthand, when I bought my first house I lived next to a couple of older couples( one on each side ) who told me of being in Kiwanis, Elks, Speechmasters and several other clubs. Watching the old television shows of that area men would have lodge night etc. What has happened. I am not sure. Our culture is more diverse. Too much pleasure is available for solitary consumption. Women work. Husbands are expected home at night. I do not know the answer. I do know that I believe it is making for a lesser society. Our society becomes more and more polarized. I firmly believe that the paralysis of our government that exists today has a strong cause from Fox news and MSNBC. They provide red meat to those on the left and the right leaving the moderate center with no voice. What do they then do. They tune out so to get ratings what do these networks do. They put the more extreme on the right and left on the air. So who do our Congressman and Senators have to appeal to. Those red meat constituents. There is no center in our society because there is no venue for the center. The genie is out of the bottle. In a way we are in a reversal course to what immigrants did from Europe one hundred years ago where the goal was to immerse in the culture and Be American. I am not sure that people feel that way anymore. I am not sure Americans have enough of a shared sense of purpose and duty to accomplish the big things that we need. Even at the opportunity to have a shared sacrifice our government does not ask for it. After 9/11 our people wanted to help, they wanted to do all that they could. Our government instead asked for Americans to go shopping to show the terrorists that our way of life was not altered by them. In World War 2 rationing was constant and manufacturing was converted to war industry, Would our people do this now. I still believe they would. Our government however does not dare to ask, it is hard to blame them, as instantly half the public would be howling in the streets. Shared experience, Shared sacrifice. Will America be ready when the time comes. Nothing in our daily culture makes one think that we will be