Kai Chan
Kai Chan
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read

TV used to unite Americans — was that all it used to do? Now it is dividing them — is that all it is doing? I don’t quite follow the article’s logic.

You have cited several shows from the past for being “popular” and pioneering, but are they necessarily uniting? Are you sure that everyone watched them regardless of the viewers’ ideologies? It is entirely possible that some viewers resented seeing a working woman or an African-American family on TV, and some of them switched channels or turned off the TV altogether. I am also pretty sure that there were tons of totally non-pioneering shows that viewers watched back then, just like right now.

Sure, we now have more choices in term of what to watch on TV, thanks to Netflix and other providers. So what? Does that “divide” us “now” like it never did before? Is it really as problematic as you have portrayed?

If conservatives “start” tuning into Fox exclusively? If someone wants to watch Fox exclusively, they are as free to do so today as decades ago. Or was there some defunct law that banned such behavior? Meanwhile, here is one important piece that your nostalgia has missed. Before Internet video streaming and mobile devices, many homes had only one TV available during prime time (e.g. dinner time), and because of “my house my rules”, the parents controlled what the family watched. If enough parents liked a show, then the show gets popular, even if the children wished they could watch something else. Different people like different shows. Big deal. It has always been that way. The difference is it used to be that those in power controlled what others in the house watched, so if parents wanted to watch Fox in the evening, then the children watched Fox whether they liked it or not. Those who disagree with the power holders’ choice can simply take out their mobile device and tune to another channel.

In this context, having a choice is a Good Thing. After all, in some countries, viewers do not have a choice.

Kai Chan

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Kai Chan

Changing the world that talks too much, one piece of writing at a time. Leading the leaders, when they can lead and when they cannot.