Cars Still Won't Fly

~~~

The Netfix fairies bestowed upon our household the DVDs of season
three of The Smothers Brothers television show. These shows aired in
1969,a tumultuous and amazing period. The show was cut-off, mid-
season, by CBS because they found it to be too controversial.

We watched a couple of the episodes that pushed the network over the
edge and caused them to can an Emmy Award winning and highly popular
show. One episode featured Joan Baez explaining that her husband would
soon be going to jail for refusing the go to the draft board. Another
had a comedian doing a sermonette that had him cupping his hands in a
suggestive way while saying, "got them by the ol' test ... iment.

We kept explaining to our 11 year old how cutting edge this stuff was
and how explosive the times were.

"See that? Tommy Smothers is singing a love song to a black woman.
Back then, that simply wasnt done!"

"Huh," she replied. She gave it a good thirty minutes then politely
excused herself.

The whole thing left me feeling a little unsettled. I imagined life
forty years from now, with a 51 year old Ro trying to explain the
enormity of her own times. "See ... Obama was BLACK. Well ... half
black anyway, and it rocked the nation, nay, the whole WORLD when he
got elected, see?"

What the hell will be going on then that will make today seem
completely tame?

~~~