Those were the days when Archie Bunker’s bigotry mattered: Letter from the Editor

I was a child then Everything in the family was broadcast on television in 1971 and my family watched it together every week. We rushed home from Saturday night Mass at our church to CBS’ incredible lineup including M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, and Carol Burnett.

All in the family had to deal with race, abortion, women’s rights, marriage, labor and war. With a good dose of humor, All in the Family injected serious social topics into conversations at home.

How could it not? It featured Archie Bunker, the quintessential fanatic, embracing ideas not previously seen discussed in mainstream entertainment channels, along with the backlash from the rest of the characters. A child like me would undoubtedly ask his parents about it.

All in the Family was the number one show in America for five years. Across the country, millions of families like mine were listening to those same discussions about social issues. Week after week, year after year, families across the country based their conversations on identical source material.

Clearly, not everyone agreed with the show’s overarching liberal message. I’m sure some agreed with everything Archie said. The key is that we all had the same script. Those who agreed with Archie’s bigoted views still heard the opposing view. Even if they rejected it, they could at least have empathy for those who endorsed it.

Flash forward half a century. We don’t have anything like All in the Family. We don’t have common mass entertainment channels that can spark conversations. Television has been split into countless channels, and that’s on top of unlimited YouTube and Tiktok videos. People who embrace Archie Bunker’s philosophy today are surrounded in their world by people who think the same way and are rarely, if ever, confronted with the opposite point of view. People who espouse liberal views don’t interact with people like Archie.

Even the national news media is fragmented. People who watch Fox News only see the stories that portray their candidates in a favorable light. People who watch other channels get the opposite. Rarely does anyone cross to understand what the others see.

The result is that we have no empathy for each other. We don’t see both sides.

I sense that clearly in the emails and text messages I have received since Tuesday’s election. People who, like me, believe that Donald Trump is the worst human being ever elected president are despondent, desperate, and furious with those who voted to return him to the White House. Many of those who voted for him are effusive, insulting and merciless in castigating me and anyone who voted against Trump.

I sent a note to one of those who was in despair, and at her suggestion I forwarded it to the more than 2,700 people who subscribe to text messages I send every day about newsroom thoughts. Nearly 400 people responded, mostly with thanks, so I’ll repeat it here:

The fight to preserve democracy that began with our Revolutionary War never ends. Sometimes that struggle seems bleak. Sometimes it’s so easy that we take our freedom for granted. Our country has always been divided. Remember, half the nation once fought like crazy to preserve their right to own other people. Today we awaken to a new landscape, knowing that we will need a clear resolve to ensure that future generations experience the great experiment that this nation has been for us. The moment we stop fighting to keep what we value, we start to lose it. We need challenges every now and then to remind us, because it is the downfall of our species to forget… Hang in there. The journey is long.

The gist of that message is that if you are one of those angry about Tuesday’s results, get up, dust yourself off and start all over again, to quote a Jerome Kern tune. That’s what Trump supporters have been doing for the past four years. We will have elections again in 2028. Strive for it. That is the beauty of our democracy. Every four years we get to start all over again, all the while expressing our opinions and standing up for our ideals.

But those who oppose Trump should try to understand those who elected him. We are in a democracy and the majority has ruled. There are reasons why they voted the way they did, and as difficult as those reasons are for Trump opponents to understand, it’s worth a try. We should all hear the arguments on both sides of the issue, just as viewers of All in the Family heard them in the 1970s.

Readers have asked me this week how our newsroom will deal with the future. I think it’s a strange question. We’ll do what we always do: cover and analyze the news and provide information and perspective you can’t get anywhere else. We will discuss that news without bias. We will discuss this by asking probing questions. We explain the facts. (Please note that reporting differs from opinion content.)

And like All in the Family, we are that rare platform that still reaches people on all sides of the political spectrum. They come to us for local news and entertainment information they can’t find anywhere else, and they come for the Cleveland sports coverage that is second to none.

We are one of the last places where people with a different spirit come together. By subscribing to our platforms, you ensure a place exists where people can regularly see all sides of the issues and their elected leaders.

We look forward in our newsroom, not back. There is work to be done.

Thanks for reading.

I’m at [email protected]