On My Birthday, Some Observations

Maybe it was the fact that I had a birthday recently. I have been reflecting on a number of things about our curious American society … so, I’ve decided to write down some thoughts here.

I heard my old acquaintance Scott Simon at NPR interview Dolly Parton a few years ago. While I don’t recall specifics, Scott asked her about some criticism of her work, and I do remember her response.

Ms. Parton said, “Honey, I’ve reached the age where if someone doesn’t like what I do, tough.” I’ve loved Dolly ever since for her independence of thought, and I have reached that point in my life, too.

Here’s what I think:

1. Health care – The seemingly never-ending debate over health care in Washington is not about health care. If it were, the politicians would be talking about the epidemic of obesity sweeping America and the need to ban high fructose corn syrup, a cause of obesity and Type II diabetes. No, the debate in Washington is over money, greed and power. It’s not about the American people; it’s about enrichment for the pharmaceutical and insurance companies and members of Congress. If they were serious about improving heath insurance coverage for Americans, they would adopt a European-style socialized medical program and be done with it. Members of Congress, by the way, will never need to pay for health care for the rest of their lives.
2. Social media – It is truly astonishing how Twitter has revealed how needy many people are. While the online tools of social media could be used to imaginatively create competitive edges for organizations and companies, social media instead is just being used to push the same boring and predictable marketing efforts that never worked in the first place. Users – individuals and corporations – are turning social media into a dull and vast online wasteland.
3. Mainstream media – The news media … journalism … is vanishing. The only legitimate nightly news program with a meaningful Web site is PBS NewsHour. The rest of TV news has been dummied-down to a nonsensical, entertainment-driven Gong Show, as Jon Stewart characterized it. CNN’s coverage, for example, of the recent tsunami threat to Hawaii was reduced to someone holding a low resolution mobile phone connected to Skype, revealing there is little left behind the curtains at CNN. Media giants – like Media General and Post-Newsweek – have compromised print media ethics in favor of chasing dwindling advertising revenue. The New York Times remains America’s best newspaper.
4. Illusions – We live in a society filled with and driven by illusions represented to a complacent and ill-informed population as reality. Once a mighty manufacturing country, the U.S. is reduced to a service and consumer culture. We buy and sell to each other items made in China or elsewhere. Cheap crap. Toyota advertised safe cars for years and people bought into the myth until the bubble burst, and it was revealed that Toyota cars are among the unsafest on highways. Many people wouldn’t know because they don’t or cannot read. We like to think of ourselves as high-minded and ethical while we cheat in business and on our taxes.
5. Reality – AT&T mobile service sucks.
6. Comprehending Up from Down – We’ve become a process-driven society, generally with ill-defined purpose or goals. Just make-work checklists. What’s lost in the dust are the skills of critical analysis. Issues, challenges and problems are solved by critical analysis, not checklists.
7. Technology – As a guy who launched the popular baby boomer online magazine, BoomerCafe.com, in 1999; began blogging in 2003; and now is considered somewhat of an expert in the online world, I am amazed that so many PR and communications people today barely know how to login to email, much less comprehend all the other exciting things happening in the digital era. Hey, people … take the pulse of your Googleability.

Bottom line – Many people seem so angry they no longer care about anyone or anything. The anger is mirrored in TV and motion pictures and seems to be metastasizing into decay. TV news picks up on the anger and would appear to foment anarchy for ratings.

What I believe – America is a country that has lost its spiritual compass. Maybe what we need is what David Brooks of The New York Times wrote about on March 2: “……a serial outpouring of love and nurturing.” Wouldn’t hurt.

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