Steve Bryant – Thoughts on Success, Music and Media

1. Attending elementary school in the hopelessly backward state of New Jersey in the early 1960’s, I was suspended from 4th grade for calling Confederate Officers traitors. When I wouldn’t apologize, they bounced me out for a 3-day rip.

2. I believe Confederate statues should never have been erected in the first place. They should be taken down ASAP.

3. I acknowledge that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and most of the Founding Fathers owned slaves. Slavery was an abomination and never should have happened. But I also acknowledge that without the Founding Fathers, this country would be just another failed British colony.

4. (This one fits in, I promise.) Hogan’s Heroes was one of the most successful half-hour comedies on TV in the 1960’s. They were even going to make it a “dramedy” like M*A*S*H, but decided it was too risky. The show had phenominal rerun value because it had been so successful in its original form. UHF-TV and the then fledgling cable industry needed a lot of content.

Today, Hogan’s Heroes is one of MeTV’s most popular and successful reruns. Simple plot for each show, the Nazis were stupid and the Americans were smart. True, but that meant the scripts for each show were almost identical. Regardless, it was a huge hit at the time and even now as a rerun. Nazi symbols, including the Swastika, were prominently featured throughout the series.

Finally, the rhetorical question:

“Why is it okay to feature a program with blatant Nazi symbols strewn throughout when the Dukes of Hazzard is banned because of the Confederate flag on the “General Lee” car? I understand banning programs featuring the Confederate flag, but, given that, shouldn’t shows featuring the Swastika also be banned?”

Again, it’s just rhetorical. Food for thought.