We have all met an “Archie Bunker” at some point or another in our lives.
A loud and openly-bigoted person, spouting a seemingly never ending tirade against everyone not like him, he is so frustrating that attempting a Munch-style scream promises to be the only way to stay calm; or, there is another way — you need to engage him, to change him.
As vile and stupid as his opinions and words may be at times, the unexplainable adoration for him — almost like a subconscious need as if he is the exception that proves the rule: humans, on the whole, are good — catches you off guard.
The Archie Bunker-grin, which appeared usually following some really ignorantly laid out theory about an entire race of people, was rather endearing. Built a foundation of that racist ignorance, a more chagrined version of that grin would appear just as often; the down-turned eyes and pouting mouth meant that Archie — the bigots of America — had had a racial epiphany. The scorn he was feeling, not being so much of society’s making but was the expression of an internal realization, that he had been tragically, even hurtfully, wrong.
Dear God, we need some Archie Bunkers today. Donald Trump is not an Archie and the “silent majority” he claims to be representing is not so silent; many of them are too unforgivingly hateful and, as discouraging as it is to say, irredeemable.
If yesterday’s silent majority was a mass of law-abiding, tax-paying Americans who trusted and respected the government to do the right thing, and most importantly believed in America — today’s so-called silent majority is a bunch of historically-ignorant citizens trying to destroy the very America Archie and his bigoted buddies down at the bowling alley fought for.
And yet, we cannot close the door on these people. We need to leave it open just a crack so that they, the prodigal citizens who went astray from our nation’s core values, can come back home. We need to assess how we can build bridges to them. How, instead of condemning them, which is always easy, we work to maintain open lines of communication? We have to find the Archie in the bigots surrounding us today because they are redeemable.
The Differences between the “Majorities”: Silence and Idiocy
As outright dumb as Archie may have sometimes seemed, he nevertheless did score some points in his arguments with the “Meat Head.” Meat Head was Archie’s son-in-law, Mike Stivic, played by Rob Reiner. The arguments between the two, and televised before a live studio audience, quite accurately captured the generational angst a lot of America was experiencing back then; but regardless of the racially insensitive comments Archie was making then, he was also finding the gaping holes in how a world would function according to a liberal mindset. A very real layer of “realism,” or practicality was being uncovered on the cusp of an evolving America and it was forcing to the forefront the question: are we really ready to be this free, this decentralized?
An unpopular war was raging in the jungles of Southeast Asia and a president, who was the embodiment of America’s old system of governance, was driving the nation toward a constitutional crisis of his own making. The race riots of the late ‘60’s had calmed only to be replaced by nationwide anti-war protests. Present, however, in most of this discourse, which then seemed to be characterized only by shouting with the two sides never listening to each other, was an inherent sense of right and wrong.
This notion of a right and wrong, forming an unseen bond linking both sides, was constructed on a belief that not only were both sides humans, and so worthy of a certain basic respect; but that as Americans it was a devotion to that idea of America, and not tribe, that most significantly enlivened the discourse.
Archie Bunker, and the real-life bigots of that era, were nevertheless getting their evening news — actual journalism — from TV anchors like Walter Cronkite (CBS), Chet Huntley and David Brinkley (NBC) and Frank Reynolds (ABC). These were esteemed journalists with vast real-world experience from the landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day) to the jungles of Vietnam. Their faces and most importantly voices entered into American homes delivering non-politicized analyses of the happenings in the world.
Most importantly, these journalists, and many like them, were not hacks for big business but they fully-embodied the ethos of the “fourth estate.” When Walter Cronkite questioned on air whether the US could win in Vietnam, he was suggesting to the American people, from a vantage point of extensive experience, that the something was happening that was not aligned with the promise that was America.
These experienced journalists, and that is what they were before becoming on-air anchormen, were experts in the fundamentals of the American experiment as laid out in our Constitution. Patriots first and then private citizens second, the words they spoke to the American public were tethered not to personal gain but to a duty for ensuring America prevailed. Cronkite was reminding the three branches of government that he, and most journalists then, didn’t agree with what was taking place in Southeast Asia, especially after the Tet Offensive (Cronkite calls for peace not victory).
Archie Bunker, and his fellow bigots, would have heard that responsible assessment and after discussions with friends over beer, likely would have considered it a sober one that the rest of the government should consider. I am not saying that what Cronkite said would have made them happy; but the mere notion that this was some form of “fake news” would have sent these veterans of the “big one” (WWII) and Korea into fits. A free press in America is what they fought for, after all. They never would have condoned a Fox back then.
Fast-forward to today where you have a culture of ever-deferring responsibility — pass-the-buckism. Wasn’t me, it was because of has taken over the Republican Party, most of whom have never served a day in the military but are always ready to seem tough by waging war. The weakness of this crowd of faux-patriots would have sickened Archie.
This does not mean he would have accepted the cancel-movement and hyper-PC’ism of the left. Failing to accept historical realities sometimes as long as 30, 40 and 50 years ago is the same as failing to accept evolution. Humans evolve and tomorrow’s generation will be born more intelligent than today’s but this is not a reason to accuse everyone today of being guilty of something or ignorant.
It Archie were around today, he would probably agree that the disproportionate number of Black Americans being murdered when interacting with police was wrong; but he would also wrongly blame the Black Americans for getting themselves in those spots in the first place. Black Americans, however, would have eventually earned his sympathy. Archie would not have been a supporter of Donald Trump for this was a generation of a man is only as good as his word or the strength of his conviction. Once they learned about how Trump avoided serving in Vietnam, he would have lost most of them before he ever became president.
Archie and his fellow bigots would wear masks and the idea that it was some form of government control would have sent them into hysterics — hardworking men and women don’t have the luxury to sit around and wallow in conspiracy theories. If a mask can you keep you stay healthy during a deadly pandemic, then wearing one was just a matter of common sense — only dummies lack commonsense, Archie would have guffawed. They would be dumbfounded to see the lunacy going on today over simply respecting thy neighbor. They would be appalled by the whiners going on about their rights — I am not going to wear one, so there!
While I am sure very little would be found in common between myself and yesterday’s silent majority, they did for many reasons deserve respect. Consisting of, in varying proportions, a few generations of Americans who had fought in many wars defending our nation going back as far as the 1890’s, their will built our America up to become a land of bounty and safety where baby-boomers were afforded the luxury of aspiring to perfection. All of these people not only loved America but believed in the nation’s core values as outlined in the the handbook (the US Constitution) as authored by Jefferson and others.
I openly question whether the Americans today, the Trump supporters who refuse to wear masks or feel the bizarre need to always carry around guns, actually act the way they do to preserve the same America Archie was defending in with his bigoted views? I question whether they even intellectually capable of understanding that their views today, as articulated by their president, are anathema to our national spirit?
There are so many reasons why today’s so-called conservatives have lost grip with the vision of America. Asking them to stop watching Fox and suddenly recall what it meant to be America, say through the eyes of John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt or Robert F. Kennedy — let’s even put in Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D, Eisenhower —is surely asking way too much.
I do, however, have one small request for today’s bigots; forget about all of the rhetoric of the present and ask you yourself: Is your vision of America something that Archie Bunker would accept? If the answer is no, and I am pretty sure it will be, then re-align yourself, turn off Fox, start wearing a mask and vote for Biden.
Vote for America.
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This post was previously published on The Innovation.
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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons