The destructive influence of Norman Lear shows on society in the 1970’s

There are some common themes amongst all Norman Lear television shows beginning in the 1970’s that I believe, and believed then even as a kid, that were instrumental in influencing and eroding American society over the years afterward, being rooted in pure Marxism.

One of the chief goals of Marxism is to destroy the family, traditional values, and of course religion (faith/God). In most of his shows, which were wildly popular in that time, because of course laughter always makes the medicine go down, the family, traditional values, and religion are things that are made to be the butt of jokes, or shown to be out of step with modern society, or just plain not useful. I remember as a kid noticing how blatant and yet cleaver it was, and how this simply did not at all line up with the society I was living in or the lives of those I knew either. Even as a kid I could see the subversion, as much as I could in skits on SNL, or little social lectures that began creeping in, and in the news as well.


Let’s take a look at Norman Lear shows though…

All in the family



A conservative minded Archie who was always saying very racist, insensitive, and outright ignorant stuff to or course cast a very negative light on conservatives, while Michael (meathead) the resident liberal who was married to Archie’s daughter and living in his house always seemed to have a liberal take that was shown to be correct and in touch, and very much non racist. Then there was Edith (dingbat) who was Archie’s dutiful subject, a lesson in how patriarchal system had subjugated women in relationships.

Maude



Maude, an over the top loud mouthed super liberal feminist who wore all of the pants in the family, and her weak and inept 4th husband who was always in the background. She was always shown to be truly plugged in to things, and always shown to be right in the show, and boy did she run the show. There were nothing but liberal social lectures pumped into your head.


One Day At A Time



A single divorced mom raising two daughters, and the only male in the show is an idiot maintenance man (pseudo husband figure I suppose) who is always saying incredibly stupid stuff and giving terrible advice. The focus is on her struggles to raise these girls and how she is going to raise them completely different than the way she was raised, and let them work things out for themselves. The emphasis is on doing what you feel is best rather than any concrete moral guidance through life.


Sanford and Son



Once again, an old out of touch and somewhat prejudiced black man living with his open minded son constantly getting in trouble with his antics. There’s a batty aunt ester with her religious stuff, a Hispanic neighbor who always seems to be the most logical of the bunch, and then you have the 2 cops, a down with it black officer, and a dumb as dirt out of touch white officer who can’t seem to get anything right. Although not nearly as many outright social lectures, there are some and they are again hidden in comedy to make said medicine go down.


The Jeffersons



A black family that finally overcame white oppression and made it to the east side. George (father) is an extremely racist person (basically the black version of Archie Bunker) but usually has some truth mixed in with his racism. Then there’s the mixed race couple, the Willis’, and the super liberal white man in the couple who butchers everything and is a completely out of touch buffoon. Racism is a constant theme in this show.


The real long and short of this is that while most people found these shows hilariously funny, entertaining, and very popular, our society has undoubtedly been reprogrammed over the years in our value system, and this was never some random happening, but a very deliberate effort to change and erode American culture, and they were very successful in their attempts. They played the long game, and have won through television “programming”. There are undoubtedly many who might think that I am overestimating the influence that these comical shows had on America, but I remember television and life before these show, and after, and as far as I’m concerned, these shows paved the way for all future shows that use comedy to introduce subject matter that influences public opinion and corrupts America, especially when it comes to our morals, norms, and values.


I think that Norman Lear was very much part of an orchestrated effort to reprogram America through comedy and these shows have been used as a road map on how to influence American opinion and culture through the medium of comedy and television in general.