An Outdated Cultural Depiction

My weekday morning routine, if you can call it that, often finds me in the kitchen around 10:00 AM performing some of the domestic drudgery I walked around the previous three hours but now I have to do it if we want to keep clean plates in the cupboards. I often will turn on the TV for back ground noise as I fuss around the sink, stove and kitchen table. I took notice recently of an old re-run of Bonanza that had found its way to my TV. And now it sports a new warning before the opening credits:

Warning- This Show Contains Outdated Cultural Depictions

Ferchrisakes, this was G-rated, every family in America loved Bonanza; Hoss, Little Joe and the gang whupping bad guys while they dealt with all the intricacies and difficulties of the late 19th century West on or near the Nevada/California line. Now, almost sixty years after the original shows aired, we might be offended by one of the least offensive and squeaky clean shows to ever grace the air waves.

I was fascinated by what could be the "Outdated Cultural Depictions" someone somewhere in the offices of Get TV felt deserved mentioning. I watched most of that episode, you know the one with the two nuns in a stage coach along with Hoss. They get robbed of all the money they had scrimped and saved to build a hospital for the needy in Denver.

While I watched this Horse Opera unfold, I failed to see any depiction that might offend anyone. The story was a gag reflex inducing tale of sacrifice for Lord, our God in Heaven that left one nun dead while the other regains her hospital money and a bright light breaks through the Ponderosa pines as someone rides off into the sunset.

I mentioned this to my wife who claimed she did not watch Bonanza as a child. Yet she was able to point out the obvious 'Outdated Cultural Depiction". Two words passed her lips.

"Hop Sing"

Immediately it dawned on me. The reason I did not think of Hop Sing was he was not in that episode. And almost as immediate, I realized as insanely unforgiving as the Cancel Culture was over the Past not spoiling our Present or our Future; it almost equals the zeal with which the White Wing Peckerwoods use to try to return that Past and force it into our Present. Between the two of them, we just cannot catch a break.

Yes, Hop Sing played a servant in the series. But, Bonanza was known for their, at the time, groundbreaking sensitive character portrayals that attempted to not denigrate, but to integrate. Native Americans were always treated with the best intentions of that period. The only nasty people on the show were all the bad white guys the gang at the Ponderosa tangled with on a weekly basis.

I know that the shows of my youth would not stand the scrutiny and criticisms of 2022 television. But warning people they may be offended is bush league stupidity. If the Past offends someone in the future, they need to get a grip and move on.

And folks don't understand why I am almost as pissed off with the Left now as I am with the Right.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ...........................................

________________________________________

There is only one tune I can think of for this post.  Lorne Green singing the theme to Bonanza. Enjoy!