Former Cheers executive producer Rob Long makes the case for preserving the traditions of “whitebread” America—uncomfortable formalities, awkward silences and all.
In Los Angeles, you can buy a hot dog wrapped in a tortilla and topped with kimchi. “It’s about as perfect a metaphor for twenty-first-century America as you can find,” writes Rob Long. “It’s also pretty tasty.” But as wonderful as today’s multicultural American kaleidoscope is—and it is wonderful—there’s something to be said for America’s waning WASP culture, or as Long calls it, being “whitebread.” To be whitebread is to be unironically normcore: to assume a formality of dress and manners, to embrace awkward silences, and to carry seemingly obsolete traditions from generation to generation.
Long, the Emmy–nominated executive producer of Cheers and creator of Sullivan & Son, lays out his argument for being “whitebread by choice” in this tongue-in-cheek paean to the tried, true, and very unhip ways of whitebread America.
Download and start listening now!