One of the many ways I can tell I'm getting old is that I would rather watch reruns of old television sitcoms than watch a new show. I've never seen an episode of "West Wing," never watched "Parks and Recreation," and have no intention of seeing "The Young Pope." I would list other examples here, but I don't know any of the titles. Instead, I watch reruns of "The Andy Griffith Show" on the Sundance network. That's on Thursdays. On Fridays I watch reruns of "The Bob Newhart Show." Wednesday means "MASH." Since I have committed all those shows to memory, I can watch without having to pay attention. That's one of the other signs of old age. It is increasingly difficult to pay attention.
Yesterday, I watched the episode of Andy Griffith where Opie and his young friends get into Robin Hood and his Merry Men. In the course of their play, they run into a derelict old bum living in a cardboard shanty outside of town. The guy is a good story teller and he feeds Opie's desire to be the best Robin Hood he can be. At the bum's urging, Opie and his gang run to their homes and abscond with left over fried chicken, maybe a ham or two, and one of Aunt Bea's prized apple pies.
Andy and Barney quickly jump on the Mayberry crime wave and discover, after one of those father-son things between Andy and Opie, that the kids are enabling the old bum.
Andy, being the wise father we have all come to love even though if he had been a registered voter back in November, he would have most assuredly voted for Trump, goes out to the old guy's cardboard camp with the kids and confronts him. He assures him that he could get a job doing road work, or night watchman work, or security guard work and start off on the road to financial solvency and redemption. The old guy wants no part of it and runs off, leaving his cardboard mess and a couple of partially consumed hams behind. Opie and the rest of the gang are shocked and disillusioned, but wiser. They have learned the important lesson that you have to earn your own way in the world and the people who don't are lazy liars and cheats.
I was probably 12 when I first saw that episode and I took the lesson to heart. Watching the same propaganda at 68, on the other hand, was infuriating. I started thinking of all the other shows of that era that used the lazy bum trope. Beaver had a few run-ins with the homeless, all of whom were lazy and shiftless. Ward came to the rescue just like Andy and exposed those bums and their hypocrisy. Jim Anderson on "Father Knows Best" certainly ran his share of bums out of town. Uncle Charley taught Fred McMurray's three sons about the value of self-sufficiency.
I loved those shows when I was a kid. I still do. But the message behind those shows is nothing more than right wing propaganda. No wonder Ronald Reagan won an election by making us all outraged at "Welfare Queens." No wonder that part of being a "compassionate conservative" for George W. Bush was giving tax breaks to the wealthy so their largesse might trickle down to the undeserving poor. No wonder Mitt Romney excoriated the "takers" in a speech to his base of billionaires. And no wonder pseudo-compassionate people like Paul Ryan want to eliminate anything that smells of income redistribution in an effort to help the poor develop the skills they need to not be dependent on the rest of us. What a guy.
In one of the most horrible conversations of my life, I was talking to a couple of dear friends who were outraged at the idea of helping the homeless because they knew that a large number of the homeless were making more than 50 grand a year and didn't have to pay taxes! God! If that's true, being homeless pays more than being an Uber driver. I asked them how I can tell, when I drive past a group of homeless gathered around a Sterno can and leaning against their shopping carts on the corner of Lawrence and Park Avenue, which ones are making the big bucks so I can be sure not to give them any money. They didn't have an answer. Neither does "The Andy Griffith Show."
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2 comments:
NEVER seen an episode of West Wing? Oh, be still my heart. How, in heaven's name, Jim, could you have not allowed yourself to experience a wonderful cast of characters, superb writing, and relevant content. I binge watched it again, all 100+ episodes, last year and am feeling I want to do it again. To see a White House like the one pictured in West Wing would help relieve the stress I feel every time I see a headline with the present president's name in it. It is worth the time, highly recommend it. :)
Cheryl
In a similar vein, Zoe and I have been watching many of the musicals I grew up with. It's hard for me to watch them with new eyes. So many of the female characters portrayed as naive, unintelligent gold diggers.
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