In case you wonder where your parents (or grandparents) got their
goofy ideas about television:
Reminder: this was written for
adults.
So, it's not going to be
patronizing or
condescending at all!!
Yup!! Parents were
always fearing that whatever media was new would corrupt their little darlings! Why just a few years earlier, burning comic books solved all of those awful problems of our ungrateful youth!! Coming soon--it's
The Beatles' fault!!
Bonus points from the
NRA for cleaning your gun in the living room!
This is how
Norman Bates got his start...
So--
DON'T SHOW THEM DOCTOR WHO!! Or
Twilight Zone. Or The
Munsters. Or...
And let's never forget this feature of the
1960s:
You could mock intellectuals and be patronizing to non-intellectuals
at the same time! It's like they invented
The Big Bang Theory 50 years early!!
Damn you and your anti-folk singer rants,
Walt Kelly!!
Again with the folk-singer bashing!!
"
Help your child be more like himself." Wow. Might as well just have "
CONFORM" stenciled in the background of every panel...
"It is not necessary to censor. It is necessary to guide."
These are obviously some fine impulses here, as people grappled with the overwhelming onslaught of 3 or 4 grainy channels with all of their risque and dangerous 1961 programming. Who
wouldn't be frightened to death by government publications telling them they should be frightened by this?
But discouraging a child's interest in "
the bizarre?" Dude, what kid
isn't interested in the bizarre?!?!
Back in the day, my mother wouldn't let me watch
Superman cartoons (sorry, I don't know which ones--
SHE WOULDN'T LET ME WATCH THEM!!) because they were "
too violent." (Also banned--
Alice Cooper!) So you can see how effective that "
guidance" was.
Except for
Two Broke Girls.
No one should ever be allowed to watch that...
"Can we afford to do this?"
"Ah, don't worry, the Social Security Administration will
NEVER run out of money!!"
Pogo Primer For Parents (TV Division) is from 1961
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