Wow. \u00a0So my boys were watching WETV tonight, and catching up on some old Remington Steele<\/i> episodes. \u00a0I have to admit, my boys are cool. \u00a0From loving Casablanca <\/i>or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington<\/i>, to being able to recognize Andy Griffith Show <\/i>episodes within minutes, they have\u00a0amassed\u00a0quite an appreciation for life before CGI. \u00a0Don\u2019t worry, they know enough of the latest blockbusters and what\u2019s happening in the world of kiddom to speak to their peers. \u00a0But they bring a broad and varied set of likes and\u00a0interests\u00a0 including watching\u00a0Shakespeare\u00a0(and reading it, too), along with the usual Saturday morning cartoon fare.<\/p>\n
Anyway, so we\u2019re watching an episode, in which the lead character, Laura Holt (played by Stephanie Zimbalist) is conversing with a potential client. \u00a0During the dialogue, the man she is speaking with says that, unlike Mr. Remington Steele (the\u00a0enigmatic\u00a0figurehead of the P.I. firm played by Pierce Brosnan), he is a\u00a0successful\u00a0introvert, who still believes in the Protestant Work Ethic. \u00a0In response, Ms. Holt responds by saying that is pretty much how she sees\u00a0herself.<\/p>\n
Did you get\u00a0that?\u00a0 \u00a0It about knocked me off my chair. \u00a0Someone on Network television, as late as the mid to late 1980s, was still referring to the Protestant Work Ethic in a positive light, and the lead heroine \u2013 who was quite the role model for women at the time if memory serves \u2013 was willing to claim that as a positive trait. \u00a0At least there was no jeering, sneering, mocking, or derision. \u00a0Can you imagine that today? \u00a0I wonder if the term\u00a0Protestant\u00a0Work Ethic were used today if half the audience would even know what it meant.<\/p>\n
This was brought home to me as my sons, in discussing one of their school assignments, continually spoke of America as once <\/i>being a major world power. \u00a0Once being a major world power. \u00a0Attention adults: the youngsters coming up in the world already see our nation as a has-been nation. \u00a0Any notions that they are bewitched by some illusion of American greatness should be all but dashed on the rocks of their easy assumption of America\u2019s descent.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wow. \u00a0So my boys were watching WETV tonight, and catching up on some old Remington Steele episodes. \u00a0I have to admit, my boys are cool. \u00a0From loving Casablanca or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, to being able to recognize Andy Griffith Show episodes within minutes, they have\u00a0amassed\u00a0quite an appreciation for life before CGI. \u00a0Don\u2019t worry, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n