The Problem with Most People - the meaning of majority, and how much of our culture is driven by cohorts much smaller than half

1. 
   
   The problem with most people is -

   
   

   "Most People"

   
   

   You hear it a lot. “Most people” say, or do, or think, this.  Or that.

   
   

   In this political season, you will see characterizations about what “most people” think, say or do. People who are liberal, people who are conservative, presuming that most of the world agrees with them.

   
   

   “Most” could be seen as a democratizing word. But what is “most?” A majority? Half of a group, plus one? 51% still leaves a lot of people out.

   
   Meanwhile, our society is driven by cohorts much smaller than a majority.

   
   

   Case in point – The Super Bowl.
   
   There have been 46 of them. In 2012, more people in the United States watched the Super Bowl than have ever viewed ANY television program – an estimated 111.3 million people watched via broadcast, plus another estimated 2 million online via the NFL and NBC. Huge. The most watched television program in American history.

   

   http://paidcontent.org/

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   Even bigger than the number of viewers turned in for the final episode of the groundbreaking TV series “MASH” in 1983 (nearly 106 million estimated viewers).
   
   The audience was large for the game and the spectacle. The ratings company A.C. Nielsen estimates that the halftime show by Madonna had an estimated 114 million people tuned in.
   

   

   Christopher Polk/Getty Images

   
   
3. But ponder this:

   
   

   The February 2012 population of the United States registered in at more than 312 million people.

   
   In the United States, if we go by what the ratings tell us, at 111 million or 117 million or even 150 million, MOST PEOPLE DID NOT WATCH the Super Bowl in 2012.
4. I believe that a majority of my friends and associates watched at least part of the game. It seemed like everybody on Facebook that I know was commenting about it. The Super Bowl was a universal meme for a nation. That is my perception.

   
   

   More than half of the country did not watch. “Most people” did not watch the Super Bowl. The biggest, most unifying media event of our age, and more people watched it than ever, but a majority of Americans did not watch.
   One of the biggest problems with “most people” (the phrase, not the people) is that even if it is NOT inflating the power or viewpoint of the “most” group, it is often disregarding the “other” people not in the “most.”
   

   
   There are people who are older than you or younger than you who have none of your shared cultural references. There are people of different gender with a totally different view. Race, ethnic background, religion or non-theism, education, physical ability…the list of our differences is long.

   
   

   When you recognize America as a complex collection of diverse people, hopes, experiences, abilities and accomplishments, the folly of using the phrase “most people” can begin to sink in. The beauty of our representational democracy is that we can find a way for most people to live together with opportunity and responsibilities that we agree to as a part of our compact with each other as Americans.

   
   

   Beyond a few certitudes, in journalism, in life, in art, we try to discern what matters.
   
   

   Most people breath.
   
   Most people eat.

   
   Having more than half of a population care about something is a big deal. 
   
   In the United States, we have that with our political system. Most people eligible to vote in the presidential election of 2008 DID vote (62%). The electorate was the most diverse in US History.
5. 
   
   
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   Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History | Pew Hispanic Center
   

   Released: April 30, 2009 I. Overview The electorate in last year's presidential election was the most racially and ethnically diverse in ...

   

   Pewhispanic
6. But it is also the case that most people in the US who were eligible to vote did not vote for the president in office. More voting-eligible people did NOT vote as people who voted for the winner.
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   Newsroom: Voting: Voter Turnout Increases by 5 Million in 2008 Presidential Election, U.S. Census Bureau Reports
   

   About 131 million people reported voting in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, an increase of 5 million from 2004, according to a new t...

   

   Census
8. As you listen to the rhetoric of anyone – in culture, art, government, religion – if they speak of certitude about what “most people” want, they are probably leaving some people, and often, many people, out.
   
   How we manage to accommodate our differences is a challenge that civil society must learn over and over.  In the United States, it has been a remarkable struggle, and a remarkable strength.  Here's hoping that the coming year shows "most people" understanding that we are in this together, even though we may not see things from the same place.