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The Friday night lineup in those days was Dukes, followed by The Love Boat, followed by Fantasy Island. I didn't know it was racist. I thought it was a sort of Robbin Hood story with cool car jumps and a corrupt Sheriff of Nottinghazzard.
That's because that's all it was.
The racist shit was just a lilly for the southern broadcasters to hang their hat on.
I saw a couple episodes when I was a very small child and I don't remember anything racist. They were just like running from the cops and solving crimes sometimes right?
It had the southern pride propaganda of the car being named after a confederate general and the flag plus the whole rebellious thing
But yeah, it was basically Robin Hood set in the south and the characters themselves were not written to be racists.
Pretty much. The only 'racist' bit was having the confederate flag on the roof.
And calling it General Lee.
That too. It was basically coded racist, but wasnt. Like the opposite of a crypto-fascist or something.
Yep. I made a comment this morning about how not everyone who flies the stars and bars really understands why it's a hateful symbol with this show as one of the points (there are others I won't go through). Someone else pointed out that the neighboring Sheriff Little was black and was shown to be a way more competent character (not a good guy, but not a dumb , racist stereotype either) than Roscoe P. Coletrane or Jefferson Davis Hogg. The show literally made fun of the guy who was named for the president of the Confederacy.
That flag should never have been used for the good guys but they were "rebels". Showing it was supposed to cement that into the people's minds. It was stupid and short sighted. It also worked to make people feel like if they identified as a good guy rebel they could proudly display that flag.
I’m pretty sure that there was at least one episode with a “bad guy” that was black, but I don’t think race had anything to do with it. There weren’t too many positive race stories from that show though.
That doesn't make the show racist.
I watched it a bit growing up and never got racist vibes from it either. The Confederate flag just meant "the south" to me back then. I knew a lot of people with them on various knick knacks and articles of clothing that I never witnessed being racist either. I don't think people put so much thought into it back then.
These days though, yeah if you're still flying that flag you're probably an asshole.
On the flip side, it was just kind-a ok to be racist at that time. I can remember serious discussion on whether a black man could be smart enough to play quarterback in the NFL.
The Confederate flag just meant "the south" to me back then.
Growing up around the same time, this was how I interpreted it as well. I didn’t give a shit about the flag, but I never got the racist connotation from anyone around me at the time. It was just something that Southern people liked, just as you said.
Southern people just like symbols of slavery. What's wrong with celebrating symbols of slavery? It's how I was raised. I don't need to consider how descendants of slaves feel about seeing the battle flag of slavers celebrated. People who murdered hundreds of thousands of people so they could continue owning black people just used it as a symbol of institutional hate, what's so wrong with that?
Well ill give ya credit you thought about what it historically represents, but you are still missing the reason why it was/is so prominent. Southerners are ignorant as shit, I mean this is the most neutral why possible. They got fucked over by the old southern aristocracy and are still being fucked over just now its the new oligarchy. For someone to right a wrong they must be aware that a wrong needs to be righted, and frankly speaking most southerners are ill equipped for such a task.
Also I really hope ya dont go round making accusations like that, bring attention to the problem gently. The worst theyll do is not listen, but if ya go in looking for a fight they are guaranteed not to listen. I made such a mistake with my kin out in Little Rock.
I got into a heated argument (preschool) about whether the car jumped or flew. My dumbass neighbors (my age and younger) contended that it flew. Their mother backed them up. I bet they turned out really fucked up with a parent who was willing to lie to them and distort reality rather than hit them with a dose of reality. I was super mad about it. And now look at me: I’m an atheist who believes in Leftwing politics, so I’d say that on the spectrum from reality to fucked, I turned out pretty ok. Hate to think how they must see the world today.
fly
to move through the air using wings. to be carried through the air by the wind or any other force or agency:"Any other force or agency" such as a car's momentum
jump
to spring clear of the ground or other support by a sudden muscular effort; leap:"muscular effort" cars don't make muscular effort.
Looks like flew was technically more accurate
Flew off a cliff and flew into the sky have very different connotations.
They may have been referring to the cartoon. The car in the cartoon did some ridiculous shit, such as tires that inflated like balloons and made the car extra bouncy.
I’d say that there was often time some OTHER antagonist, making it “cool guys jump car so that bungling sheriff catches actual bad guys”.
Not in the United States, on Fridays it was Dukes Of Hazard then Incredible Hulk on CBS, while Love Boat and Fantasy Island was Saturdays on ABC.
No I had no idea either, I'm Canadian and we didn't really learn American history. It was just a show to me, but learning what I know as an adult, I'm gobsmacked this existed.
Yeah I think I saw one maybe one and bits of another episode. I knew of it though but I'm in Europe and didn't even know what the flag meant. Different times I suppose.
When I was a kid the show turned me off at first because the characters accents. Every adult in real life around me that had a country accent was an asshole that was mean to me for no reason.
That's why I can't watch Letterkenny. I could get the same experience any Tuesday night at the Legion around here.
Were there ever any non-white people on the show they could have been racist towards?
This site counted and "The conclusion was that with 19 black characters over seven seasons, Dukes of Hazzard had a higher black-character-to-episode ratio than Seinfeld or Friends."
That makes sense, it's not like NYC is very diverse or anything.
Yes, and they were always treated as equals. It was rare for them to be on the show though.