A daily escapism for me is to indulge in some old television shows, from an era when political correctness and Woke ideology would have been considered a form of insanity. I find it relaxing in a nostalgic sort of way.
Back then, the casts were not required to “look like America,” nor were they mandated to have a dozen or so non-binary types featured prominently, or to have plots “ripped from the headlines.”
Against that backdrop, a half-hour comedy called The Andy Griffith Show, set in the fictional hamlet of Mayberry, N.C., could enjoy a run of eight seasons and 249 episodes on CBS.
Ironically, star Andy Griffith (Sheriff Taylor) and his TV son Opie (Ron Howard) have since gone very public as two prominent members of the leftist Hollywood crowd. But, watching the show, we’d never have known about the politics. Their politics (admittedly Opie probably had none then; too young) weren’t shoved in our faces as part of the experience.
Just the other day I was covering this ground in a call with my cousin, singing the praises of the separation of politics and entertainment we once enjoyed.
Alas, while watching an Andy Griffith Show rerun Monday night, I was reminded that even back in 1961, when the episode in question aired, they were manipulating the message.
The plot of this show had Opie being bullied daily on his walk to school, surrendering his 5 cents in milk money. Man, I actually remember when we paid 5 cents a day at school for a half-pint carton of milk.
In fact, one of the neighborhood rumors in my former haunt of Oakland, was how a juvenile delinquent “allegedly” burned down the school, either intentionally or intentionally, while trying to rob said milk money after hours.
Back to the TV show, Opie compensated for the bullying by getting an extra five cents from Aunt Bee, or Deputy Barney Fife, so he didn’t have to choke down peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without a drink. The bully suggested he drink water, but Opie parroted Aunt Bee in noting he needed the milk to make his bones strong.
If I had a nickel for every time I heard that growing up, well, I could have bought a lot more milk.
Eventually, Sheriff Taylor got wind of the extortion and, while fishing, maneuvered Opie into standing up for himself without directly confronting him or addressing this situation.
Sheriff Taylor told Opie he recalled when he was in school how a bully tried to steal his favorite fishing spot. But, the Sheriff added, he also recalled having learned a lesson in school about someone in the early days of the country saying “millions for charity, but not one cent for tribute.” Translation: Don’t pay off bullies.
At this point, I was screaming from the comfort of my chair. The quote had been altered, likely intentionally.
The actual quote is “Millions for DEFENSE, but not one cent for tribute.”
It expressed an impassioned position of the upstart United States not to pay protection money to foreign governments or freelancers such as the Barbary Pirates.
I called the cousin to share this and point out it was likely unpalatable to someone in the operation, perhaps even Griffith himself, to pay homage to defense, and thus the word “charity” was substituted.
So, even then they were massaging the message. But, at least they were subtle, a far cry from the didactic and pedantic messaging of the moment.
For that I am grateful and so am willing to overlook this small example of such indoctrination from 65 years back, but not without first duly noting it here.
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