Archie Bunker

Norman Lear, who recently died, created such an amazing caricature of a typical American bigot in Archie Bunker. He boiled down bigotry to a combination of fear and ignorance. Fear of being irrelevant or being replaced by people who are other than white men. His ignorance was present through the whole series.

Archie is still relevant to this day. For example, some of the stuff he said (which was a joke on the show) was said by our last President in earnest. Archie had proposed curbing skyjacking by arming all of the passengers. Our last President suggested arming all teachers.

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spjennifer · 61-69, T

I remember watching All in the Family as a kid and even then to my relatively inexperienced mind it was often beyond the pale. Many of the themes explored then are still very relevant today as many of tRump's base would give ole Archie a run for his money on the bigotry. Serious props due to Carroll O'Connor for portraying someone who was the complete opposite of him in reality and to Norman Lear for having the courage to put it all out there on TV for all to see and hear.