This is why we are still stuck in the 80s

I was an attendee in this media conference where the speaker ( a very established local journalist) pointed out a very trivial, yet important, issue that caught my attention. In that  room of about 100 attendees we were all listening to his message without paying attention to his ethnic background. The audience interacted with the speaker fully, asking questions with positive response to his jokes.

If this was a political gathering (according to the speaker) , everyone would have taken sides and we would all be divided according to our tribal lines. We would even find a reason to exchange blows with our colleagues from the other side of the political divide yet in another setting we are seemingly inseparable buddies.