Those Were the Days...
Been watching a ton of reruns in the last few weeks, primarily because it's the only entertainment to be had between Incendiary London, Natalee Holloway's Aruban Murder Mystery and 24/7 coverage of the Tour Du France. One 1970's icon show, however, has really awakened a new interest for me though.

All in the Family was way ahead of it's time. It was also still very relevant. Why, you may ask? Because a good number of the serious subjects of the 1970's which were "examined" in the 30-minute morality plays in the Bunker residence are still with us, in slightly diluted form. Most of the regurgitated platitudes we hear today once erupted from the mouth of Rob Reiner, a.k.a. Meathead.

In the last two weeks, I've heard Meathed spout about a coming ice age, overpopulation, the ozone layer, finite natural resources, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

The same arguments are still being used today in defense of subjects like global warming (in the 70's were all supposed to freeze to death, either due to ozone depletion or nuclear winter, now we have worry about being fried to death), overpopulation (birth control and abortion --good, people taking responsibility -- bad), hunger (in the 70's people believed there was no way to grow enough food, but somehow they managed to discount technology and scientific advancement), poverty (despite 30+ years of the welfare state, it's still here, and always will be), racism (now it's fashionable, provided you're black), and a host of others.

Don't get me started on M*A*S*H*. Alan Alda (Hawkeye Pierce) is/was an even bigger blowhard than Meathead.

They say that thje more things change the more they stay the same. Take a walk down memory lane these days and watch some of those old TV shows, and take a minute to think about what you've just watched. You'll be amazed at just how much 2005 sounds like 1972.