Just the good ol' boys...Never meanin' no harm....Runnin" around in a racist '69 Charger named General Lee with David Duke on the roof......Oh...
This Flag?
Just the good ol' boys...Never meanin' no harm....Runnin" around in a racist '69 Charger named General Lee with David Duke on the roof......Oh...
This Flag?
Oh...
This Flag?
So do we now build monuments to insure the eternal hate of Hazard Co or do we do something to change it's image?
If you have a platform like a popular TV show to turn the page and go forward, why would anyone but the most hateful, vengeful, unforgiving, hurtful people in the world want to drag them back into darkness?
Some of us actually prefer our television shows without the social justice preaching. Just like the current efforts going on in that area in seemingly every damn show.Dukes of Hazard seems to be in an interesting cultural place IMHO. There were other shows in that time period that indeed sought to push culture forward. From memory (and they may not all align in time with DoH), White Shadow, Heat of the Night, and even the A Team, in a way. Then there's even the half hour sitcoms like Different Strokes and the ones with predominantly black casts. And a bunch of other shows would have plot lines that brought up racial tolerance.
While the Duke boys weren't overtly (or even really implied to be) biased, there just weren't any racial plot lines that I can recall. None. It just wasn't part of that universe.
At that time, maybe just showing a group of rural southern whites as race-neutral was a "win," but that sets a pretty low standard.
Totally understand the value of escapism in TV. (There's too much f'n "reality" shows now, IMHO.) I think we agree about that.Some of us actually prefer our television shows without the social justice preaching. Just like the current efforts going on in that area in seemingly every damn show.
Some of us actually prefer our television shows without the social justice preaching. Just like the current efforts going on in that area in seemingly every damn show.
Yes, but having had a historical blemish in the past is no reason to will them to never having the opportunity or ability to change. The portrayal of white youths NOT being obsessed with the subject, in itself, would be a move in the right direction, would it not?
Its not that they weren't obsessed with it, race was absolutely ignored - both as a fact and a social issue - in a setting in which it would have been a daily occurrence.
Again, this isn't a knock. It was fictional - in oh-so-many ways. I don't think it is accurate to say DoH either advanced or hindered the US race issue. It was a non-feature in that area.
(A different conversation would address whether they missed an opportunity.)
I was born in a county in E. Kentucky that had no black people in it as far as I can remember. Race was a non-issue. If the Duke's county was similar, how would it have been a daily occurrence?Its not that they weren't obsessed with it, race was absolutely ignored - both as a fact and a social issue - in a setting in which it would have been a daily occurrence.
I was born in a county in E. Kentucky that had no black people in it as far as I can remember. Race was a non-issue. If the Duke's county was similar, how would it have been a daily occurrence?
So, when did you first hear descriptions of black people?
The first black people that I felt like I got acquainted with was when "Good Times" came on TV.
Oof.
So what was the first description of black people that you recall?
I wouldn't remember that. I don't think of it as good or bad (why would I?) that I grew up in a rural area where there were no black people, or that I went to schools that had not one single black child.
I was still a kid when we moved to rural Howard County. The first time I really remember anything about black people was the unrest up in Kokomo in the late 60's.So, when did you first hear descriptions of black people?
I was still a kid when we moved to rural Howard County. The first time I really remember anything about black people was the unrest up in Kokomo in the late 60's.