The Great Unraveling
When norms no longer exist, who do we decide to become?
All things are fragmenting. Nowadays we talk about it in the form of social media bubbles, but it has been happening all along. We used to all believed in the same narratives. It was the nuclear family in the white picket fenced house with the attached garage and mowed lawns that goes to church on Sundays. Not everyone wanted to live that life, or could, yet we abided by the simple story. You fall in love, get married, have kids, and grow old in your home. Men were the breadwinners working hard to provide while the women were the caretakers keeping the home life neat and tidy. This is what we knew because that was what was fed to us.
With the limited channels available we were all shown the same repeated templates. There were only so many media outlets, so the news, the entertainment, the stories more or less carried the same voice. As things grow and compete, they divide. Print grew the number of books, newspapers, and magazines. Radio gave rise to musical and dramatic programs. Then came television, bringing with it even more ways to tell stories inside our homes. They all start off as a single or few stations that rapidly multiply into dozens, then into hundreds. All of these new channels gave rise to new voices to represent those who were unrepresented. The punks, the gays, the nerds…
