America's Ethos: Anna, Bama, & Baseball

As one watches the 24-hour-cable coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death (and the attendant details), the high school tornado tragedy, and the college baseball bus accident, one sees illustrations of America's contemporary cultural ethos. No longer is it deemed appropriate for the lives of public persons, or even Everypersons, to be cordoned off for personal privacy concerns. Emotions, thoughts, and actions are to be shared as a community. To not do so is seen as a deprivation of our common consciousness and an affront to our communal comity.