I'm pretty much in agreement with everything you've written on a topic we've all been confronted with in the most tragic way.
I don't think it's a coincidence that America's decline in World influence coincided with the disappearance of Middle America from television screens all over the world.
While it might sound shallow, America sold itself to middle Australia and many other western democracies through television shows and movies such as Roseanne, Malcolm in the Middle, Happy Days, The Cosby Show, Die Hard, Home Alone and more.
We're not all educated in American history and current affairs in the same way academics and politicians are.
The bulk of Australians are educated through popular culture. And for decades the America we saw was diverse, patriotic, loud, and confident. We talked about the same TV shows that we all watched at the same time.
We went to the movies together.
I landed in LA just as the Rodney King Riots were kicking off in 1992, and met so many diverse, patriotic and loud Americans whose confidence was being fundamentally shook.
Their culture as they understood it was being turned upside down with violence and division right in front of their eyes. The popular media representation of who they were was changing. Their image was being battered.
The contented and secure patriots of Middle America were the biggest victims in the race to globalisation. They saw themselves vanish from popular culture, only to become the biggest villain in social media and internet discourse.
The middle attacked by the extremes.
And there are so many extremes now, mostly based on the supremacey of the individual above and beyond the good of the community.
Middle America is still there, and I hope it can collectively be revived and energised.
I see pockets of it.
It must reawaken to the reality that Middle America is stronger than any president. It must regain it's Patriotic confidence.
Where America goes, Australia will follow.
[Note - I met Muhammad Ali on that 1992 trip also, and it remains one of the highlights of my life]
Thanks for making this public.
I'm pretty much in agreement with everything you've written on a topic we've all been confronted with in the most tragic way.
I don't think it's a coincidence that America's decline in World influence coincided with the disappearance of Middle America from television screens all over the world.
While it might sound shallow, America sold itself to middle Australia and many other western democracies through television shows and movies such as Roseanne, Malcolm in the Middle, Happy Days, The Cosby Show, Die Hard, Home Alone and more.
We're not all educated in American history and current affairs in the same way academics and politicians are.
The bulk of Australians are educated through popular culture. And for decades the America we saw was diverse, patriotic, loud, and confident. We talked about the same TV shows that we all watched at the same time.
We went to the movies together.
I landed in LA just as the Rodney King Riots were kicking off in 1992, and met so many diverse, patriotic and loud Americans whose confidence was being fundamentally shook.
Their culture as they understood it was being turned upside down with violence and division right in front of their eyes. The popular media representation of who they were was changing. Their image was being battered.
The contented and secure patriots of Middle America were the biggest victims in the race to globalisation. They saw themselves vanish from popular culture, only to become the biggest villain in social media and internet discourse.
The middle attacked by the extremes.
And there are so many extremes now, mostly based on the supremacey of the individual above and beyond the good of the community.
Middle America is still there, and I hope it can collectively be revived and energised.
I see pockets of it.
It must reawaken to the reality that Middle America is stronger than any president. It must regain it's Patriotic confidence.
Where America goes, Australia will follow.
[Note - I met Muhammad Ali on that 1992 trip also, and it remains one of the highlights of my life]