My First Social Media Group - Circa 1955 - Lessons For Today From The Baby Boom

I suppose anyone past the age of 30 gets occasional "Remember When" email messages. As a Baby Boomer, I suspect that may be particularly true for folks my age. Typically, they start off with things like:

Do you remember when ... ?

• All the girls had ugly Gym uniforms?
• It took five minutes for the TV to warm up?
• A Quarter was a decent allowance?
• ...

And, generally, they conclude by lamenting how much better things were "back then", compared to the world today.

Of course, its true that there were many qualities of that era of "Remember When" that would be wonderful to restore. A good example that springs to my mind is how my buddies and me could safely be all over our neighborhood, from dawn to dusk, without any immediate adult supervision.

However, its just as true that there are aspects of "back then" that today's world is better off without. What I think of first is that, in those days, in the neighborhood that my buddies and me were all over, there were no "colored people" ... they all lived in their own part of town.

But, looking back and longing for what was good in the past, while letting the not-so-good fade away seems natural enough. What doesn't seem natural to me, though, is that these "Remember When" laments aren't accompanied by a call-to-action to actually do something to restore some of those wonderful qualities from "back then".

In an earlier post entitled "Rebuilding Lake Wobegon", I talked about my generation, the Baby Boomers, having “A Great Wealth of Wisdom” to offer younger generations. We were lavished, more than any other generation, with education. Moreover, we were raised by the GI Generation, who instilled us with a great work ethic. That meant, not only did we get a great education, we actually went out and tried to accomplish everything we could with that resource and in the process, grew the resource by honing it with experience. Included in our experience, of course, are those wonderful "Remember When" qualities, whose restoration would benefit today's world. As I said in that earlier post, if we don’t find a way to transfer this “Great Wealth”, IT WILL DIE WITH US! So, I want to encourage my fellow Baby Boomers to start looking for every opportunity we can find to make that transfer.

In just the past couple of weeks, I've realized I'm participating in an "opportunity area" where I don't encounter many other Baby Boomers. What I'm talking about is, generally, known as Social Media. Specifically, I'm talking about Twitter. Even more specifically, I'm talking about a Twitter Tweetchat Group that follows the Hugh Hewitt Radio Show. An overview on how this works is:

• Twitter allows groups to form by using "hashtags". This is, simply, a # symbol followed by other characters to designate a specific group. In the case of the Hugh Hewitt Radio Show, its #hhrs. Get it?
• Once you log on to #hhrs, you "see" the others who are "tweeting", along with their "tweets".
• Since its a radio show, while "tweeting", you also listen to the show, online or via broadcast.
• The "tweets" are exchanged among the show's listeners, Producers and occasionally, Hugh and his guests.
• Although much of the "tweeting" is about what's on the show, many other topics get attention. As #hhrs "Regulars" get better acquainted, more personal "tweeting" goes on too ... "What are you doing for your birthday tomorrow?", "How did your Mom's medical treatment go?", etc.
• This group even takes on themes of its own, completely separate from the show. As an example, one day this past week, we decided for the group to take on the personality of the old Andy Griffith TV Show, with each "Tweeter" becoming a cast character and relating to Hugh Hewitt in the Sheriff Taylor role. Before you know it, almost everyone had changed their Twitter avatar to a picture of one of the Mayberry characters (Barney, Opie, Aunt Bee, etc.), indicating that they were taking on that role. I know it sounds pretty goofy but it was fun.

Based on what I've told you so far, even if it doesn't sound like something that would be your "cup of tea", if nothing else, you can see how this would help in developing multi-tasking skills. However, as I was logging on to #hhrs recently, I recognized something strikingly familiar and in turn, potentially quite valuable in the effort I'm encouraging, to pass along our "Great Wealth". Here's what happened:

• Its not uncommon for a #hhrs "Regular" to make their presence known by "tweeting" a greeting to the group logged on at that time.
• On the occasion in question, I found myself "entering the scene" with the words. "Come along and sing a song And join the jamboree!"
• As I was recognizing the familiarity of what I'd done, almost instantly a "tweet" came back saying, "Hey! there, Hi! there, Ho! there You're as welcome as can be." and "Forever let us hold our banner High! High! High! High!" ... My words and the ones coming back to me were the lyrics to the "Mickey Mouse Club March" ... a song I'd first sung as a seven or eight-year-old kid, in front of my black-and-white TV, in 1955.

As I recognized that familiarity, I was struck with the realization that not everything about this "New Media" was so new. I'd done this before. Of course, there are major differences between black-and white TV and the Internet. Likewise, what an Elementary School aged kid learned from Jimmy Dodd and The Mouseketeers is not on the same level with the knowledge a Boomer can gain today from a discussion between Hugh Hewitt and Charles Krauthammer (as an example). And, #hhrs "Regulars" have real-time dialog whereas Mickey Mouse Club Members had their discussions later, on the playground or the following day, on the school grounds. But, in both cases, wholesome learning takes place, views are shared, relationships are established, the community is enriched and the culture benefits.

As I said earlier, with Social Media, I've realized I'm participating in an "opportunity area" where I don't encounter many other Baby Boomers. I want to change that and I hope this article will help. Please, don't be intimidated by this, as "New Media"! We've done this before ... in my case, starting over 50 years ago! Be courageous! By doing this, you won't have to resign yourself to just lamenting the loss of good qualities from that "Remember When" era. You can have an active role in restoring positive aspects of the culture "back then" to benefit society today. Remember, all you've got to do to have an impact here is ...

Come along and sing a song And join the jamboree!

Forever let us hold our banner High! High! High! High!

WARNING! I need tell you about another part of this that hasn't changed ... ya still gotta do your homework first. With the Mickey Mouse Club, even if your parents worked and the kids were at home alone after school, they'd better be able to get their homework done, if they're going to watch TV, go to the playground, etc. Likewise with Tweetchat. It can be addictive.

We gotta keep callin' it what it is - BO-loney!!!!!!!

One aspect of the current Presidential Campaign Season has continued to cause Figgins and I to regularly cock our heads and look at each other with facial expressions that obviously say, "What the heck does that mean?!" This aspect is the passion-evoking, yet vacant, rhetoric of Barack Obama.

Actually, we touched on this subject in an earlier posting entitled The Better Angels of Our Nature?!?!?!?. Although that posting addressed Senator Ted Kennedy's old-style-politics approach to whip the crowd into a frenzy when he endorsed Obama (ironically, quoting the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln), the theme is the same ... words that evoke virtually overwhelming inspiration, but void of meaning in reality. Figgins and I have coined a word to use between us to sum this up. The word is ... BO-loney. One reason we chose this is because it incorporates the slang word "baloney", meaning "nonsense". The "BO" part is for two reasons ... (1) Of course, these are the initials of the one who has been uttering these empty phrases and (2) Like another meaning of "BO", this is nonsense that stinks.

In his most recent column in the Washington Post, The Audacity of Selling Hope, Charles Krauthammer addresses this matter more thoroughly than Figgins and I could possibly do. For us, his most ominous words are the ones in his closing paragraph:

"Democrats are worried that the Obama spell will break between the time of his nomination and the time of the election, and deny them the White House. My guess is that he can maintain the spell just past Inauguration Day. After which will come the awakening. It will be rude."

The only words we can think to add to this and in fact, we feel compelled to add are: The best thing we conservatives can be doing for our country between now and November is to call it what it is ... BO-loney ... and to do so every time we see it!!!!!!!

Rediscovering America's Strength

This past weekend, Figgie (Figgins) and I had a few discussions about the 2008 Presidential Campaign. It seems that this campaign has already been going on forever and its not even 2008 yet. The election itself is still about 11 months away. Its all pretty new to Figgie though and while he hasn't registered to vote, he has seemed pretty keenly interested.

Our level of interest seemed to ramp up over the weekend, as a result of media focus on a certain "Celebrity Endorsement." This isn't a topic that generally carries much weight with me. However, Oprah Winfrey was at the center of this and though neither Figgie nor I are fans, we recognize her unique celebrity status. The factor that stirred my interest most was that she wasn't just lending her name, as an endorsement for a candidate, she actually showed up at a few campaign events to say why. So, we tuned in.

I ended up telling Figgie that I was disappointed with what I heard. Generally, there were comments about need for change, followed by the name of the candidate she is endorsing, as the preferred change-agent. This is a theme I've heard countless times, for numerous candidates (both real and fictitious), since before I was old enough to vote. What I didn't hear was much substance about the need for change or details of the "something better" we need to change to or specifics of plans for accomplishing these improvements.

So, there we were, with our interests stimulated but not gratified. What were we to do? Well, the first step was pretty obvious ... we needed to face the fact that, going into it, we knew better than to expect much from a celebrity endorsement. And, frankly, we had to admit that our critique of the event was pretty obvious and easy. Those steps taken, we decided to check a source with a track record of fulfillment for us, when it comes to political observation ... Charles Krauthammer ... a Syndicated Columnist who, when I see him on TV, I spontaneously shout, "My hero!"

To my astonishment, we came away from reading Krauthammer's column for this past Friday, in The Washington Post, with a sense of disappointment too. His comments were about one Presidential Candidate's Evangelical Christianity and how he had used that to "manipulate" another candidate into having to discuss his Mormonism. As usual, Krauthammer expressed his views intelligently and interestingly but, at the end of it all, he just pitted one candidate against another, based on their differences.

But then it struck us! Ironically, we realized that "My hero", Charles had actually come through. He had pointed us in the right direction by pitting one candidate against another. We realized ... that's what they all do. Regardless of the forum, its Democrat against Republican, Left against Right and Pro versus Con on: abortion, energy, environment, immigration, Iraq, taxes and pretty much any issue you can think of. How does that make us better? I don't think that's what led to our success, as a nation, in the first place. At the outset we pitted ourselves against Britain to gain our independence but we didn't do it just one person's way. I seem to recall that we drew on the best of the differing ideas of those we now honor as our Patriots ... John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, George Washington, etc. These were all very different guys. Where would we be if all they did was pit themselves against each other, based on their differences? ... In a place where there is only a Union Jack and no Old Glory, that's where! ... So, why is it that that's all we do today? Although Oprah didn't persuade me to support her guy, I'd bet that he does have some good ideas and that he, genuinely, wants to do his part to better our nation. Likewise with both the Evangelical Christian and the Mormon. As a matter of fact, that's probably true of all the current mainstream candidates. So, why is it that not one of them seems to have the courage to offer what we do need ... not just change but leadership, with a vision aligned with the beliefs of the majority and with the common sense to embrace the superior ideas of others, even if the "others" are political opponents. Now there's the candidate I'm looking for! One who can lead us to rediscovering the strength that made America great in the first place ... the synergy of the best of our differing ideas.

After basking for a few moments, in the illumination of the "Aha moment" we'd had, it occurred to me that I'd recently heard a similar point of view. As I reflected on this, I realized it was what I'd heard about a new book called Common Ground - How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America., by Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel. If these two, literally, political polar-opposites have come to this conclusion too, we're more encouraged, we must be on to something!

As a relative newcomer to considering Presidential politics, this all seemed to be a bit convoluted for Figgie. But I sensed it was sinking in and beginning to comfort him. As soon as we came to today's conclusion, he wandered off to one of his favorite spots ... the living room couch. There, he was able to look out and enjoy the sunny, though chilly, mid-December day. No doubt, it was that comforting view, along with the enlightened vision, resulting from our examination of today's topic, that had him peacefully snoozing in no time. I was thankful he could do that so easily. He is such a good listener but I know that takes a lot out of him.