Do you like pop culture? Whatever your answer to that question may be, it is also important to note that some people you have most likely never met want you to despise it. There are many reasons for this, but the main one is that hatred of pop culture creates division and, eventually, isolation. Popular culture gives us something to talk about, something that, after all of the toxic shouting matches we have with each other on an almost hourly basis, we can rely on to provide us with some common ground. I am not saying that pop culture is the ultimate uniting force in the world. However, it is an effective way to get different groups talking to each other so that, one day at least, they can sustain peace with each other. Sure, I may disagree with James about the validity of protesting social injustice, but at least we can share a snack over a baseball game. I may not agree with Jessica that the government should stay out of our business, but at least we can talk about the latest episode of "Godfather of Harlem". Perhaps Justin is a bit of a loner, but we still share stories about Gordon Ramsay's latest recipes. In fact, when you start to analyze how well pop culture brings people together, it kind of makes you wonder why someone would want to attack it in the first place. Why put up more barriers instead of breaking those barriers down? What is the goal here? What are the various talking heads trying to do with us this time? As long as there has been pop culture (it started during the industrial revolution with the creation of the mass printing press), there have been people, generally very wealthy people, who have attacked and tried to censor, distort or control it. Perhaps the elite do not want us to see what we have in common. Perhaps the whole goal here is drive people further apart by destroying anything they could have found common ground on. Popular culture is, in a sense, American culture. You can get it fast, cheap and at a high quality. And it even comes in all shapes, sizes and colors. I must admit that I once hated popular culture as well...But I also must admit that the reason I once hated popular culture, may very well have been because I hated myself.