The other night, Jane and I decided to try one of the new shows on television this season. Titled “FBI”, neither of us believed it would be a remake of the one Efram Zimbalist, Jr., starred in during the ’60s, nor the Jimmy Stewart movie called The Story of the FBI. The FBI Files ran on TV in the late ’90s and early 2000s, but we thought that this latest iteration would not look like that either.
Because TV fare is thinner than prisoner’s gruel, we hoped that at least it would provide an hour’s escape from the mind-numbing headlines we see and hear from today’s news. So we tuned in.
This paean to the crime-fighting bureau is set in New York City, and began with a bang. An explosion ripped through an apartment in a minority section of the city, and when the first responders came, another one managed to level the entire apartment building, killing all who had not evacuated. To create a bit of empathy, one of the victims was a seven-year old boy, Emmet.
By that time, the politically correct entertainment industry had taken over. It seems the two “stars” are a 30-something woman who had lost her husband recently, supposedly in an FBI operation. Her visage showed a continual scowl, making it seem as if she was a humorless crime-fighting machine. Continuing the P.C. lineup, her partner was of some Middle Eastern origin. Sporting a weird beard, he also sported the acting range of somewhere south of A-B. In fact, a cigar store Indian would be an Academy award-winning competitor.
Adding to this was that the immediate superior of this duo was an African-American woman, with the overall boss of the crew an older woman, white, who talked tough to her underlings while indicating she was not averse to their cutting corners to solve problems. Only one white man was in the mix, but he was not in the field, just a tech guy in the lower bowels of the FBI building.
Political correctness continued in the unfolding of this drama. First suspected was a black drug dealer, then a drug gang war was under the microscope. The magic of CCTV was unleashed against the bomber and identified the person who was delivering a third bomb. This individual, an immigrant from El Salvador, after a threat by the woman protagonist, revealed the bomb was delivered to an MS-13 gang member, but both the gang member and the bomb were intercepted by the intrepid agents.
You who are aware of the insidiousness of political correctness can see where this is headed. After more investigation, it is revealed to those of us gullible enough to watch this show, that the real culprit was a white nationalist, assisted by a disillusioned white Army veteran who actually built the bombs. To make the point more transparent, this character’s mother was a handicapped owner of a diner, foul-mouthed and very disrespectful to the FBI agents doing their jobs. To these agents, the fruit did not fall far from the tree!
But in a short hour’s show, tension had to be quickly generated. A fourth bomb had been built, but one that had the capacity to kill a lot of people as it contained nails and ball bearings. With some luck and hard work, it was determined that the explosive was set to go off at a conference of minority community members working to improve their lives. To complete the circle of p. c., the agent who managed to have the meeting hall evacuated was the African-American woman, who then defused the device.
Mom, Army vet son, and the rich white nationalist were taken into custody and the team was congratulated by their boss. Our lead agent, the young white woman, with her expression changed not one bit, ended the episode by attending Emmet’s funeral.
I don’t know how this show will fare in the ratings, but one thing I do know — the political correctness will continue. All we wanted was an hour’s respite from the world and enjoy a quiet time in our living room. Although we know that the industry that wants to “entertain” us is captured by the p. c. police, why cannot we find TV shows that just does nothing more than entertain us rather than push this p. c. stuff down our throats?
When I was (much) younger, we could watch and be numbed by shows like Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Have Gun, Will Travel, Leave It To Beaver, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Matlock, Murder, She Wrote — the list is almost endless. If we wanted mindless humor, we could tune in to I Love Lucy, The Jeffersons, Gilligan’s Island and Green Acres.
Television was called “the vast wasteland” by Newton Minow in May of 1961, but that’s all right. Although television can teach and take us places we will never visit, by providing an escape from our humdrum world, the medium serves a good purpose. When a long work day is complete, why would millions of Americans want to turn on the “boob tube”, as some dubbed it, and be depressed or exhorted to conform to a politically correct version of society?
What will happen if this push for absolute inclusion of every minority or ethnic into society reaches us here in the fly-over country? Our small church might see it mandated that the preacher be a man (or woman) of color; we would have to import the Hispanic piano player; the person in charge of security a beefy African-American; the song leader an Arab tenor; our treasurer an Asian former casino employee. And we, the parishioners would have to pony up a living wage for all of them.
After listening to some of our overpriced actors fulminate on the political scene, I believe they want to indoctrinate us ordinary people as to what is best for us and for America. As far as I am concerned, I just want to enjoy an hour of good drama or comedy just for its sake.