Our Civil War never ends. It’s not even intermission
More media people were rethinking how police, central to some of the most popular shows on television, were being portrayed. Last Tuesday, “Cops,” known for its “Bad Boys” theme song, was canceled after 32 seasons. A&E dropped its own police reality show, “Live PD,” from its schedule.
Even “Paw Patrol,” a Nickelodeon cartoon show for kids about some doggy detectives, was said to be canceled in viral rumors that turned out to be untrue. With all the other unexpected cancellations, who could blame anyone for being fooled?
By the middle of last week, another surprising front opened up in the new Civil War over symbols. President Donald Trump overruled an announcement by his own secretary of defense that he would consider changing the names on military bases across the South that had been named after Confederate generals. I don’t know if the president knows much about history, but he certainly knows where his core constituents are concentrated.
I’m not surprised by that, but it does put Trump in a tricky situation to defend the honoring of officers who fought against the country of which he was elected president. But he did promise from his first days as a candidate to do things differently from other presidents.
For now, his big battle is for reelection of this country, which was divided along these cultural lines and continues to be divided today.
All of these issues — from Hollywood to NASCAR to military base names — are markers of our division as a nation of many tribes, who are trying mightily to pull together in a common identity. With that in mind, it seems much more than coincidental that we Americans find ourselves wrestling with these issues now.
We are shocked by the death of George Floyd. Many Americans are shocked and angry to witness the systemic failures of our justice system. It feels as though the Civil War never ended. Only the battle lines have moved.
Maybe the HBO Max programmers have the right idea. Censoring uncomfortable words, names or expressions, or sweeping them under the rug, doesn’t work in the long run. We need to learn how to talk to one another — before the next war breaks out.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
(c) 2020 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
