Erasing History
Erasing shows like The Cosby Show from our collective memories is not the answer to deviant behavior or distasteful icons
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“…no one can control the ideas other people take from tv. But believing in pop culture and the intelligence of its audience means making it accessible, not sealed off like the last test tube of smallpox virus, to be studied only by hazmat-suited critics lest it contaminate the masses. The worst tool for understanding history is the eraser.
Allowing discomfiting tv shows in our cultural library…..is the right thing for a society that believes in ideas…..tv, like it or not, is part of our history. And those who avoid learning from history are doomed to rerun it.”
-James Poniewozik (Time magazine, July 27, 2015) on the elimination of re-runs of The Cosby Show and The Dukes of Hazzard from television in response to Bill Cosby’s scandals and the recent strong opposing views against the Confederate flag
