Time Travel Radio
In this year of 2026, I have had a lot more travel than in the past, a ton of it by car. To keep me company on my multiple days on the road, I have made my way through the “Prairie Hom Companion” broadcasts from 1996. It has been an entertaining form of time travel. I remember the stories and current events that they talk about, and think about where I was back then, in our first year of marriage and our first year out of college.
One of the most surprising things is to see the way that a lot of cultural issues have not changed. Technology is completely different, of course. In some ways, the world is a completely different place when I look at the tools and capabilities that we have now that we did not back then. The cultural struggles, however, have hardly changed at all. That year was an election year as well, just not a midterm. Clinton was running for his second term. How quaint it is today to think about the “existential” threat that Clinton was to the world according to the cultural wars. The republicans certainly changed their tune on all that moral indignity towards someone running for office!
With everything that is similar along with all the advances in comforts, I don’t look back on 1996 as a better place. 2026 has its own blessings and challenges. However, it was a fun journey down memory lane.
One of the most surprising things is to see the way that a lot of cultural issues have not changed. Technology is completely different, of course. In some ways, the world is a completely different place when I look at the tools and capabilities that we have now that we did not back then. The cultural struggles, however, have hardly changed at all. That year was an election year as well, just not a midterm. Clinton was running for his second term. How quaint it is today to think about the “existential” threat that Clinton was to the world according to the cultural wars. The republicans certainly changed their tune on all that moral indignity towards someone running for office!
With everything that is similar along with all the advances in comforts, I don’t look back on 1996 as a better place. 2026 has its own blessings and challenges. However, it was a fun journey down memory lane.
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