A couple of weeks ago I ran an episode of Conversation where the subject was Christmas. I said then that the concept of people actually sitting around talking and having intelligent discourse was not only an oddity by todays standards, it's absolutely extinct. The subject of this particular broadcast (from March 12, 1955) is even more of an anomaly - the Non-Conforming American. The guests on the panel are Alistair Cooke, Adlai Stevenson and Bergen Evans and the moderator, as always is Clifton Fadiman.
It's very interesting to hear the bafflement of these panel members over the concept of a non-conforming American. The speculation that it has something to do with the Cold War and a reaction to fear of nuclear annihilation is somewhat awe inspiring. Although I suspect that's partly true, the idea that "these non-conformists" perplex the likes of Adlai Stevenson and Alistair Cooke is a little worrisome. But given the times and the somewhat puritanical leanings of our society in the 1950's, and well before, I guess it is not all that strange in retrospect. But still, listening to this program you get the unmistakable feeling we were living in a very repressive society at the time.
Further evidence going back isn't all it's cracked up to be.
