Television and movies have changed dramatically. (I won’t even get into the music business.) Where men used to be noble, dignified supporters of their family, they are now often depicted as buffoons and slobs. Francis Reagan, the patriarch of Blue Bloods, as well as the other men on the show, are definitely exceptions – that’s why I’m an ardent fan of the show. Today’s shows, movies and even books glorify “single moms.” Where once we had the Ed Sullivan Show, Leave it to Beaver, Bonanza, The Donna Reed Show and Petticoat Junction in the ‘50s and ‘60s, we now have 16 and Pregnant, Dating Naked, Born in the Wild, Dr. Pimple Popper and Botched.
We now have major corporations, like Walt Disney Company, which owns the ABC network and which continues to air The View which features five women, four of which hold pretty much the same hateful Progressive left-wing views. Until The View is off the air, I will not be going to any Disney park. And when I hear the head of the ABC’s entertainment President say she will reject great programming if it doesn’t fit into her idea of what the characters should be – in other words, great shows will be rejected if they don’t cover the checklist of diverse characters she thinks they should have.
The Disney Company has become the poster child for the woke culture. According to recently leaked employee training materials, “‘Reimagine Tomorrow, described as a ‘diversity and inclusion program,’” Disney “is teaching its employees that America was founded on ‘systemic racism’ and encourages a new employee to ‘take ownership of educating yourself about structural anti-Black racism.’”
The new training materials also include concepts such as “white privilege,” “white fragility,” “white saviors,” “microaggressions,” and “antiracism.” Walt is definitely spinning in his grave.
The English language is under attack by the woke folks as well. As I mentioned before, NYC has now acknowledged 31 genders. This month, Instagram has provided its members with a list of “pronouns” they can use so that others will know how to address them. Other than the usual pronouns of he/she/they, one can now choose from co / cos, e / ey / em / eir, fae / faer, mer / mers, ne / nir / nirs, nee / ner / ners, per / pers, thon / thons, ve / vis / ver, vi / vir, xe / xem / xyr and ze / zie / zir / hir. I have absolutely no idea to whom these so-called “pronouns” refer nor do I care, quite honestly. There must be a committee somewhere whose members stay up all night to come up with stuff like this. Aside from the novelty of it all, it also feeds into people’s deep-rooted need to feel special – “look at me, look at me.” Right now, I’m taking Spanish lessons, a language that identifies nouns as either masculine or feminine, and whose adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies – very different from English. French, also rooted in Latin, identifies nouns as masculine and feminine as well. Smartly, France, has rejected the woke proposal of these gender-neutral pronouns as “harmful to the practice and understanding of French.”
The Academy Awards which, at one time, was a lot of fun to watch but became very boring many years ago when the Hollywood elite started wearing their “virtue signaling” ribbons to show me how much they cared about some cause or another. It all became tedious, very tedious.
Needless to say, shows like All in Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, and movies like The Producers or Blazing Saddles could never be made today. Where once we all – blacks and whites – laughed at idiots like Archie Bunker, people are now “offended.” Even my favorite television program, NYPD Blue, couldn’t be made today as it was written. Where once we had Johnny Carson who was completely apolitical and had a viewership in the millions, we now have the likes of left-leaning and very politically vocal hosts like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, whose combined audience doesn’t even come close to Johnny’s on a bad night.
Back in the ‘50s, Senator Joe McCarthy tried and was temporarily successful in silencing the voices of anyone he determined held left-leaning ideas, and, primarily, communists. Now, it is the Progressives and far-left who are trying to and are somewhat successful in silencing conservative voices. How the tables have turned!
Today, anyone who expresses even the slightest disagreement that isn’t considered “woke” will be “cancelled” – losing their jobs, businesses and reputations. Sharon Osbourne, who isn’t a conservative, but had the audacity of simply saying that Piers Morgan was entitled to his opinion regarding Meghan Markel, was forced out of her spot on The Talk. Boycotts were called against Goya Foods and My Pillow when the CEOs expressed their support for President Trump. Even the 261 crybabies at Simon & Schuster, a most reputable publishing house, are trying to prevent the company from publishing not only Vice President Mike Pence’s book, but anyone connected to the Trump Administration. Extremely powerful social media companies, Facebook and Twitter, are now censoring anyone with an opposing view or even posting something with which they do not agree.
Where a weekend of sports was the only safe haven after a long week of work has now turned political as well. I think it all began when football’s Colin Kaepernick wore his “police are pigs” socks on the playing field and decided to take a knee during the playing of the National Anthem. The insidiousness of politics into the sports realm has permeated just about every sport, from women’s soccer to basketball to baseball. Although I’m not a sports fan at all, I can’t imagine most people turn on a game and like having politics rammed down their throats on a Sunday afternoon when all they want to do is enjoy a beer and watch a game.
