Our culture is sick. How far we have fallen from the America that De Tocqueville documented in his journeys. In many ways, I believe that the way that we live our daily lives has contributed to the toxic nature of our society. This is about more than just an election or any one candidate. This is about who we have fundamentally become, and the ominous implications that it entails.

When you look at the average American, you’ll see several disturbing trends. I admit that I see many of them in myself. We are completely consumed by media. The [average American watches five hours and four minutes of television] per day.(NYT Link) Alison and I have struggled to find content that we can watch with Benedict in the room, often defaulting to Food Network or HGTV. Why? The news networks are 24 hours of doom and gloom, reality TV is beyond fake and full of made up drama, and practically every other show is stuffed with vulgar language and content. We have collectively demanded that our content be explicit. We’ve told the networks and content creators that if people aren’t fighting, having sex, or cursing, we won’t watch.

Consider how many R rated movies are released each year compared to G and PG. If you’d like a G or PG movie, expect it to be animated or directly solely at kids. “Top Gun,” one of the most celebrated films in our time, released in 1986 is rated PG. Good movies can be produced, enjoyed, and celebrated without being explicit.

So when this is the state of our media, it’s unsurprising that we just went through an election cycle devoid of the issues. In the past decade or two, we’ve started to mirror the cult of personalities that many repressed nations show. We focus on the person, not the platform. Both candidates this year understood that the American public wants to see people tear each other apart, and both obliged.

Now that the election is over, I believe that mending fences and healing our culture is best done on a micro-level. My brother and I often fought growing up, and I remember very clearly at one point my father telling us, “If we can’t have peace at home, how can we expect to have it in the world?” If we can’t have peace in our world, we can have it in our nation. If we can’t have peace in our nation, we can in our community. If we can’t have peace in our community, we can have it on our street. If we can’t have peace on our street, we can have it in our home. If we can’t have peace in our home, we can’t have peace.

Mending fences is a delicate, but worthwhile task. Reject the urge to spike the ball or drift towards hyperbole. Be gracious, be gentile, and be kind.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/business/media/nielsen-survey-media-viewing.html?_r=0