amazingly, still very relevant

We open to a couple seated at a piano, their shoulders amiably pressed together as they move to the music. The man plucks a cigar from his lips and begins in a baritone, "Boy the way Glenn Miller played . . . "

Then the wife: "Songs that made the hit parade!" -- delivered in a nasal screech that is as unselfconscious as it is grating. Lovable Edith Bunker, as played by Jean Stapleton, who died Friday at age 90, was the good-hearted "Dingbat" who made Archie Bunker bearable -- even comical -- despite his stony bigotry.

Stapleton's death reminds us of the glory of "All in the Family," the daring sitcom set in a modest Queens living room that spoke truth about racial prejudice, gender inequality, ethnic bias and religious animosity like nothing else on television before its January 1971 premiere. Archie Bunker was the aggrieved working-class white man who saw his world as changing too fast -- "Guys like us, we had it made. Those were the days!"

What would a guy like Archie be doing if he were alive today? (Actor Carroll O'Connor, who played him, died in 2001.) Which issues would he groan about from his favorite armchair, beer in hand?

The most obvious is a black president of the United States. Bunker had little regard for "spades," and was hostile toward interracial couples. I picture him today as a "birther" -- calling for copies of the birth certificate, passports and school transcripts from President Barack Obama. Or, Barry Soetoro, as some modern Archie Bunkers call the president, using the surname of Obama's Indonesian stepfather, presumably to make the president seem deceitful and foreign.

Archie would object to women holding roughly as many jobs as men today. "Ms., Ms., Ms. I hate that 'Ms.' It sounds like a bug," Archie tells Edith when she comes home to serve him his dinner -- late -- after her women's club meeting. "What is the matter with the way you're running your life here, anyway? Huh? It's the world's oldest profession, running a house."

Modern Archie would blame the problems of the economy and schools on single mothers. They're responsible for the huge increase in food stamps, they don't teach their children discipline or manners, and they're too busy to help with homework, he'd probably say. The burden falls to the classroom teacher -- and, ultimately, for school costs, to taxpayers. "The Democrats' way of running this country is to go tell us all how we ought to make sacrifices," Archie says in one episode. "I'm sick and tired of people . . . giving away my hard-earned money to a bunch of families who ain't even related to me."

Similarly, he'd have a few words for immigrants who fail to assimilate into American culture. One episode has Archie facing a judge with his arm in a sling. The judge explains that Archie's assailant has been released because the arresting officer read him his rights in English, which he doesn't speak or understand. "No bum who can't speak perfect English ought to stay in this country," Archie says. He "ought to be de-exported the hell outta here."

And Archie would have sided with National Rifle Association leaders who proposed armed guards in schools after the Newtown, Conn., shootings in December. Archie suggests in one episode that the way to end plane hijackings is to "arm all the passengers."

The more I think about it, the more it seems that Archie Bunker thrives among us today. Maybe it's time for another TV parody to shed light on some of the ignorance, resentment and hatred.

Stapleton had this to say about the nine-season "All in the Family," in an interview in 2000: "It was very honest, very funny, at uncovering a lot of bigotry and prejudice and nonsense."

Those were the days.



http://www.newsday.com/opinion/columnists/anne-michaud/who-are-today-s-archie-bunkers-anne-michaud-1.5416758

what would George Jefferson think,say and do

I only personally knew one family like that when I was much younger. My best friends family, who loved me and treated me like their own, had very negative vies of blacks in general. They flipped to find out their daughter exclusively dated blacks and actually came to me to ask if I could help them talk her out of it..smh

loving people with racist views,, a dichotomy that really does exist

I think its more common, much more common, in older generations who grew up in more segregated and legally discriminatory times,,alot of their personal experience is harbored in very generalized views and stereotypes,,,

It happens a lot with older black people too who suffered personally through terrible segregation and subjugation that bred a lot of racial distrust.

I think the most subtle pervasive form of that thinking is the anti interracial crowd,, it seems much more of a prominent mentality amongst those who lived through and before the sixties than in those born after.

good question?

He was interesting because although he harbored anti white views, he also had a lot of anti 'lower class' black views too.

He would be republican and he would probably not want white folks at the dinner table but would definitely accept their money in financial endeavors and he would begrudge black people who hadn't made it to his social level too.

HE and Archie were a match made in sociopolitical heaven,,lol

Sure, if we were still living in the 1970s, then Archie Bunker would still be alive and well.

However, we are now in the year 2014, and Archie is on life-support.
Sadly, people who have been taught to see racism where there isn't any will continue to see racism where there isn't any.

My oldest daughter, my son-in-law, and all my grandchildren are all interracial. So the fact that I think Obama is hiding something and is actually part of a much larger world agenda organized by the IMF, makes me an Archie Bunker?! SMH

My dad was one..god rest his soul...

and others who choose not to see it, or who aren't touched or affected adversely by it wont

I don't believe archie is on life support, he is just not as open

around the same perior homosexuals started 'coming out', and being accepted

the archie bunkers went 'into the closet' for fear of ostracization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_O'Connor

I wouldn't know, its possible, as having loved ones that are of a particular group doesn't eliminate the possibility of bigotry towards a group,, (as indicated in my own example of my best friends family)

but possibilities are not absolutes and

I don't think the article posed a causation theory, just a correlation

for instance , ted bundy was into politics, lots of conspiracists and extremists are

but that doesn't mean the only reason people are into politics is due to being conspiracist or extremist

it just means those into politics have something IN COMMON with a lot of conpiracists and extremists,,,

and as humans, its kind of expected we should have some things in common,,


find any controversial figure in history and I bet I could find something they had in common with anyone else,,,,,

Yeah, yeah ... and black racists are also "in the closet".

that's true too, but being the 'minority' they have been more used to being there,,,

This is somewhat true but you can say all human beings have a commonality in that we all eat, drink, sleep, feel love, etc. etc.

My concern is the fact that you are also clumping conspiracists and extremists into one dismissive group which includes anyone that is into politics.

What would that make our founding fathers who rebelled against the current establishment of the time?

everyone in politics is not also into extremism and conspiracies

nor is every extremist or conspiracist into politicians

however, many conspiracists and extremists are into politics


another example, not every vegan likes lettuce

not everyone who likes lettuce is a vegan

however, many VEGANS do enjoy lettuce


our founding fathers were humans with weaknesses and strengths like everyone else,,,

Some people in the USA "need" modern-day racism to be like it was in the 1970s so that they can have an enemy that they know how to fight.

Thus, when that enemy is now few and far in between, the claim is made that the enemy has gone "in the closet".

Meanwhile, racism on the part of non-Caucasians isn't seen by people "who choose not to see it, or who aren't touched or affected adversely by it".

I love you, ur so funny,,


lets assume people aren't crazy and know the realities they experience, even if others don't share their experience,,,

or have a desire that they consider and land on other realities to explain it away,,,

If they stood up for their beliefs, which was against the law, and put their life on the line to defend those beliefs, would you not consider that to be extremism?

The fact is that the majority of Americans have beliefs that go against what the PC propaganda machine is trying to force down our throats.

Many of those beliefs, such as racism, are totally wrong and the reason that those beliefs are held is because they are promoted by the media. They do it in an overt way, but they keep the division alive. It is "divide and conquer" at it's finest.

these are good points, it was a broad term to use , 'extremist'

I should be more specific and state VIOLENT EXTREMISTS


I don't have insight to really state what a 'majority of Americans' believe because that's a few hundred million people,,lol

I also have a distaste for the term 'PC' as it seems to have become a term to somehow discredit or belittle the interest in or art of thinking before we speak and considering others

I agree though, that the media can sometimes promote and encourage poor behaviors and ideas, and sometimes they can bring them to light

I don't believe racism or other ills would go away simply by the media no longer disclosing them, I just think they would become less stigmatized and more common because they could be done 'in private' without fear of any grand repercussion

msharmony, if only I lived close enough to you ...