I've written before about the repression in the '50's and
early'60's. Many , many of us here remember it well. When they came after Lenny Bruce, when Jack Paar walked off the Tonight Show because the NBC censors wouldn't let him make a joke that used the words "water closet" which for you kids out there was the way you referred to a toilet back in those repressive years. We remember Lucy and Rickie in separate beds. We remember the 7 dirty words.
We remember when boys and girls were told you couldn't date or marry someone because they were from the "wrong side of the tracks". We remember that you couldn't say pregnant and instead you had to say "expecting" or "with child". Some of us even remember the radio preachers thundering out from the Philco with certainty that if we didn't refrain from certain words and behavior and didn't maintain the status quo that we were Godless people and were going to hell for certain.
By the status quo the powers that be meant segregation among other things but they didn't want people even talking about it on TV. We were to just go along like we didn't see a thing. The status quo also meant that domestic violence against women and children was more or less accepted as the right of a man to keep order and control in the house and raise children who would obey. The status quo also meant no acceptance of inter-faith or interracial marriages. The status quo also meant if you had the "wrong color" skin you only got certain jobs and could only live in certain areas of town. To an extent much of the old "status quo" is still around and is in fact longed for by one of the two major political parties and their supporters.
But eventually repression will always bring a swing of the pendulum that is more like blowout of the pressure. We all know what began to open things up in the '60's. People said "no". They didn't subscribe to the status quo and repression and they pushed back. Now a man who looks like he just sucked a lemon is in charge of the FCC and he is out to make us all "decent" again. As it was then it is still true that many of the people who preach piety, repression and censorship are some of the worst examples of human behavior and their hypocrisy is off the charts. Some others are just saluting whatever comes along that gets them some power to wield against others.
But repression never wins in the end if society pushes back. Nobody has any doubt that if the GQP were given the ability to outlaw people of color from voting they would do so in an instant. But they can't do it in an instant and so they keep chipping away at doing what they can to negate people of color from voting etc. So it is not a surprise that they have come after speech on TV that they don't like. The move to "take back America" has been about returning to heavy repression in all it's forms. The book censoring has been in full swing for some time now. I have no doubt that we will see comedy clubs get threatened by local officials for having certain comedians perform. To a degree that has been going on as well.
Yes it is shocking to see what happened to Jimmy Kimmel after we have lived now for so many decades without obvious heavy censorship on TV. But let's remember how we pushed back and fought against all of the repression. It wasn't a quick process decades ago to break some of it and it won't be quick now. It got worse year after year then and it will probably do so now.
The tiny little man with the sour face who runs the FCC will do more damage as will others. But we must not forget how to push back, how to cancel subscriptions or trips or purchases with Disney, don't forget the role of civil disobedience, don't forget to support those who take part in civil disobedience, don't forget how much easier it is now with the internet to tell manufacturers of products you use that if they advertise on ABC you won't be buying their products any longer, contact your local ABC station and let them know that if they support censorship and what was done to Jimmy Kimmel that you not only won't be watching any more but you will also contact their local advertisers and advise them you won't buy their products or use their services.
In short we need to put words to use and use peaceful disobedience and not just "go along" until the next atrocity. Hit their pocketbook both at the national and local level. Take even just a few minutes each day to send an e-mail to the manufacturer of a product you buy. Send an e-mail to your local grocer you normally buy from and tell them that if they advertise on the local ABC station you are going to shop elsewhere. Money is all that matters to these corporate people and we have a say to a large degree who gets our money and who doesn't. Let's use our words to let them know we the people are saying "no".
= new reply since forum marked as read
But I do need to say one thing, and that is that probably a LOT of the progress happened because there was a giant baby boom in the 40s and 50s (more younger people in general means a more progressive population). I also think the invention of The Pill had something to do with it as well. We don't have anything like either right now. And we don't have a draft and bloody overseas war to galvanize the youth of today either.
Ergo that particular swing out of repression was probably a 1 time occurrence. At least, we should assume it was, and fight with all we have now in order to not backslide to that previous state.
