In my efforts to always try and concentrate on "the funny" here in Blog Land, how do you ignore the bloodshed and carnage? Unspeakable for all the victims, including the grand daughter of former New York Met manager Dallas Green.
Naturally, in our own personal "Day of the Locusts," the media sees us all knocked down on the ground and does its collective level best to keep us pinned to the mat. The resulting frenzy is almost as unspeakable as the news they deliver. The more-polarized-by-the-day America reacts to the political voices in our heads. Tangential viewpoints that are reported as facts. Opinions presented as words of some God. Hysteria at every turn.
Before you know it, we are told that the Arizona gunman was a listener to conservative talk radio. A devotee of Sarah Palin who made the horrible mistake of using Powerpoint crosshairs to demonstrate areas in the country that needed to be targeted for political campaign reasons. Hate and violence allegedly preached by those in the Tea Party.
Huh? The guy was a lunatic. Plain and simple. But we are in a society where, had he lived, Lee Harvey Oswald might have been one of last season's finalists on "Dancing with the Stars."
Meanwhile, where was the hand wringing when the Democrats used similar gun-like graphics to do the same thing? Where was the sturm and drang when a fictionalized depiction of George W. Bush's assassination was released to theaters while the guy was still in office? Did anybody blink an eye when the current President himself announces to Republicans in Congress that, while debating health care, if they bring a knife to a fight, he would bring a gun?
Shameless. All of it sheer and utter madness. One more sterling example that the United States, as we knew and loved it, has about twenty-five good years left. As the push and pull from two extremes continues, this venomous tug of war simply shreds the once sturdy rope that held together our civility.
The other day, another piece of information grabbed my attention. An anniversary that caught my attention and even prompted me to note it yesterday in my Wednesday entry "This Day in History - January 12." Totally unrelated to our news of the week, but, oh, so relevant. Because it harkened back to a time when opposing viewpoints could be argued but still tolerated. And it could be done with something that is frequently sorely lacking in our world today.
"The funny."
Yep, yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the television premiere of "All In The Family."
As my title proclaims, boy, do we need that now!
I previously wrote about the series when I ranked it at # 7 on the list of My Top 25 Favorite TV Shows of all time. Although the references today are heavily dated, "All in the Family" still rings as true and organic as it did four decades ago. Because, even though it weekly brought us the classic arguments from both the Right and the Left, it was done so with effectiveness, unbias, and, most importantly, class.
Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly, please take note. You did not invent this debate. You simply are running it into the ground.
Take a gander at the extended lyrics of the "All in the Family" theme song. Are these not the same issues we face today?
"Boy, the way Glenn Miller played. Songs that made the Hit Parade. Guys like us, we had it made. Those were the days!"
"Didn't need no welfare state. Everybody pulled his weight. Gee, our old LaSalle ran great. Those were the days!"
"And you knew who you were then. Girls were girls and men were men. Man, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again."
"People seemed to be content. Fifty dollars paid the rent. Freaks were in a circus tent. Those were the days!"
"Take a little Sunday spin. Go to watch the Dodgers win. Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin."
"Hair was short and skirts were long. Kate Smith really sold a song. I don't know what just went wrong! Those were the days!!!"
Yesterday as timely as today or tomorrow. Proof perfect that, thanks to our political system, nothing has gotten done in the past forty years.
A yesterday that is so fresh in my memory.
There have been a few TV shows in history that have grabbed the nation's attention and held it hostage. Truly appointment-driven television that everybody, and I mean everybody, is watching en masse. I am sure "I Love Lucy" was like that during the 50s, especially when Lucy Ricardo gave birth to Little Ricky. "Dallas" was like that in the early 80s right after J.R. Ewing took some lead to the abdomen.
For me, the very first time I participated in TV frenzy was during the early years of "All in the Family." And I can easily recall how everybody, and I mean everybody, was tuned in on a Saturday night to hear Archie Bunker's latest rantings and ravings.
Of course, when it first came on the air, the attention wasn't quite there yet. But, for some bizarre reason, the very unsuspecting duo of my grandmother and me tuned in to one very early episode to see what this new sitcom was all about. We had no clue what to expect. It was the show where the Jeffersons first moved next door to the Bunkers. And Archie let us know with this announcement to his wife:
"Edith, the coons are coming!"
Two mouths dropped to the floor in a living room on 15th Avenue in Mount Vernon. And, after about a silence of ten seconds, we laughed out loud.
A lot.
During those first few "AITF" shows, we heard a lot of words we never heard on TV before.
Kike.
Spook.
Pollock.
Dago.
And the always popular Jungle Bunny.
It's not like I hadn't heard the words before. But, usually at my lily-white, European-based family dining table. Never ever on the small screen for all to hear.
And laugh at. Because that's what producer/creator Norman Lear did with "AITF." By voicing all the things usually kept inside our homes, we were all treated to realistic glimpses of our own human frailties. And he did so via the best message conveyance known to man. Humor.
It wasn't long before all of America discovered what my grandmother and I caught onto. Everybody, and I mean everybody, was tuning in to see Archie, Edith, the Meathead, and Gloria every Saturday night on CBS, which featured perhaps the best nightly schedule of programming in the history of the medium.
I can remember my parents got sucked in as well and I rarely remember my mother and father being on the same page with regard to TV viewing. There was one Saturday night where they had some friends over. All conversation, smoking, and drinking stopped at 8PM. There were maybe 20 people crowded into our living room to watch the episode where Edith went through menopause. I have forever framed that moment and the laughter in my mental hard drive. That didn't happen very often in my house. It did, though, then. "All in the Family" connected us all in a way that an audience will never be connected again.
Perhaps, in today's frantic and manic need for political correctness, "All in the Family" might not enjoy the life and success it had four decades ago. But, in my fantasy world, I want to see an episode produced today. With Archie and Mike debating the merits of Barack Obama, the lunacy of global warming, and the ravings of Sarah Palin. Because, in its own little way, "All in the Family" did more than for our social consciousness than any current leader or journalist could hope to achieve.
Those were the days. Long gone.
Dinner last night: Macaroni and cheese.
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