Longtime television journalist Tom Brokaw embraces ‘big ideas’ during visit to Oklahoma
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
A man whom America is accustomed to seeing behind a television anchor’s desk chose to stand in front of a podium Tuesday. Tom Brokaw, who United States citizens are accustomed to listening to during his longtime journalistic career with NBC News, chose to have a “conversation” on who Americans are in the 21st century and where he thinks the country needs to go in the future.
Brokaw was the final speaker in the 2012-2013 Tulsa Business Forums and Executive Management Briefings speaker series, coordinated by the Center for Executive and Professional Development at Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business.
The distinguished television journalist and author spoke about the nation’s lack of unity and how the U.S. has changed into its current divided state to captive crowds at Oral Roberts University’s Mabee Center and the Civic Center Music Hall in downtown Oklahoma City.
Brokaw says the instrumentation of technology is a reason behind the lack of unity in the U.S. “They feel connected to their friends on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn,” the 73-year-old said, “but they don’t have an organic connection to their own country and their own obligation as citizens.”
He compared the issues of today’s generation to the generation that lived during the Great Depression and went on to fight in World War II.
“We’re too divided by too many small ideas,” Brokaw said. “Going back to when our country was founded, we were united by a big idea.”
Brokaw refers to these people as members of the greatest generation any society has produced because they remained united by the commitment to their country despite battling through extreme hardships. “The Greatest Generation,” his 1998 book and what Brokaw says is his “most important accomplishment,” tells the story of these people.
While elaborating on the nation’s progressive history, including the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr., women’s rights and the digital revolution, Brokaw explains there is still a desperate need for more transformation.
“I think we need a bold, big idea,” Brokaw said. “My big, bold idea is that we have to change the DNA of public service. Public service ought not to be just going in, getting a weapon and going to foreign lands. Moreover, we need to change the face of America out there in emerging markets.”
Brokaw proposes the idea of starting public service academies at land-grant universities, like OSU. These public-private schools would train citizens to help during domestic catastrophes, such as the Oklahoma City bombing, the 2011 tornado that ravaged Joplin, Mo., and Hurricane Katrina.
“We’ve put far too much a burden on our military,” Brokaw said. “What we need to do is find a way that we can encourage all the members of the arising generations to get additional training because in the American workplace, there is a desperate need for a new skill set.”
The speakers for the 2013-2014 Spears School’s speaker series will be announced in the near future.