What’s the big deal with Disney+, the entertainment company’s streaming service, placing disclaimer warnings on 18 episodes of the original “The Muppet Show” series for children? Plenty.
This isn’t some well-meaning effort to protect people from inadvertently seeing the carnage at feeding time on the Serengeti, it’s about perpetuating the lie that the American people, our cultural and history are irredeemably offensive. Moreover, the entire Democratic “woke” mob is a dumpster fire on steroids, organizing and promoting division by pushing the tribalism of identity politics. This miserable and destructive sham isn’t a bug in today’s liberalism, it’s a feature.
The Daily Beast is particularly taken aback by the reaction by conservatives to this move labeling the kids’ show as offensive: “Fox News devoted multiple segments on Monday morning to complaining that the Muppets are the latest victims of ‘cancel culture’ because Disney’s streaming service has added a short disclaimer to 18 episodes of ‘The Muppet Show’ warning about potentially offensive content.”
It’s not the warning, per se, that’s the issue, or whether it’s just a “short disclaimer.” This actually has nothing to do with the Muppets, and everything to do with the continuing effort to condition Americans into believing our entire past is racist, sexist and deserving of cancellation. To them, America is the problem, with film and television just one reflection of irredeemable bigotry of the country since inception. The left does not want you to see what they’re doing in the larger context of their agenda to remake American society, a culture they repulsively contend has been bigoted from the start. Case in point is the woke mob moving from attacking statues of Christopher Columbus to declaring George Washington and (idiotically) Abraham Lincoln as racists. To remake this country in the left’s miserable image everyone has to go — from the Founders, to “Gone with the Wind,” to the Muppets and Peter Pan.
“The Muppet Show” warning sanctimoniously lectures us, “This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together…” According to Variety, the episodes impacted include those hosted by Jim Nabors, Joel Grey, Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, Cleo Laine, James Coco, Spike Milligan, Crystal Gayle, Kenny Rogers, Beverly Sills, Jonathan Winters, Alan Arkin, James Coburn, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash and Debbie Harry.
Americans know full well when a portrayal is a product of its time and not reflective of the attitudes or values of the current era. We aren’t infants, and for the kids watching, it’s the parents’ responsibility to decide what needs to be discussed. But that’s not good enough for the woke mob; like good socialists, they want you to have struggle sessions with your kids. Over a 1970s puppet show. To revive a slogan from the 1980s, just say no.
Warnings and disclaimers like this serve two purposes: It is a remarkably patronizing statement to the audience that they don’t understand culture; or are so pliant and empty-headed that seeing something objectionable will somehow convince us to embrace whatever it is that’s in front of us. Either way, you are being told you can’t trust yourselves, are inherently bigoted and only your moral superiors in media and the establishment know what’s best for you.
This isn’t the first content warning Disney+ has attached to classic entertainment. Fox Business reports the company has brought together “experts” from outside the company to “assess” all of their content:
“According to a statement from Disney’s Stories Matter initiative, the company is ‘in the process of reviewing our library and adding advisories to content that includes negative depictions or mistreatment of people or cultures’ as part of an ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion … Other examples where Disney+ viewers can see the content warnings are on classic films such as ‘The Aristocrats,’ ‘Dumbo,’ ‘Peter Pan,’ and ‘Swiss Family Robinson,’” reported the business channel.
If everything from “Gone with the Wind” to “Dumbo” to “The Muppet Show” are symptoms of the horrors of the bigoted patriarchy why stop there? After all, every single film or television show created not under the watchful eye of the Thought Police will inevitably reflect its time, offending the 21st century Democrats and their Culture Karens. Where does it stop? The answer is, it doesn’t, and that’s the point.
What about “All In The Family?” “Charlie’s Angels?” “Baretta?” “Wild, Wild West?” “The Big Valley?” “The Carol Burnett Show?” “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson?” Any standup comedy program? How about the History Channel running a warning prior to any program about Washington, Jefferson or Lincoln?
It’s an absurd and untenable situation and until the marketplace and shareholders stand up and say enough is enough, it will only get worse. We’ve seen the cancerous destruction of nations at the hands of miserable people attempting to declare everyone but themselves bigots and undesirables. Labeling culture as offensive is one thread of the indoctrination into oblivion. None of this bullying is benign and it should all be called out and rejected at every opportunity.
Tammy Bruce, president of Independent Women’s Voice, author and Fox News contributor, is a radio talk-show host.
