Argumentative Penguin
2 min readJun 16, 2020

--

If society is going to overturn art and culture in an iconoclastic way with a new fervour of received wisdom, then offence will be found everywhere. It will begin in earnest with shows from the 1960-1980s because they are most obviously out of step with our current obsession with moral perfection. Then shows like Friends will go, because as you've pointed out... they're problematic.

And then the definition of problematic will expand and expand on the weaponised offence of smaller and smaller factions with increasingly vested interests in their own identity politics. Within a short space of time, almost everything will be deemed to have been offensive or not inclusive enough. Everything will be cancelled.

This will continue until the only things that can be safely created are so bland they aren't worth watching and this phase of childish obsession with moral perfection will hit a counter culture and pass... here's an insight into the future.

The Simpsons - problematic racial insensitivity

The Office - No POC in positions of authority and white-washed.

Cheers - Not inclusive enough

GOT - Problematic violence against women and violent sex scenes

Arrested Development - Jeffrey Tambor / Whitewash

Parks and Rec - Aziz Ansari

Dr Who - Broadly whitewashed.

Futurama - problematic racial insensitivity

Big Bang Theory -problematic racial insensitivity

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Joss Whedon

Westworld - violence against women

The Good Place - Not religiously inclusive

South Park - almost everything they ever did

Breaking Bad - not inclusive enough.

Frasier - not inclusive enough.

The Golden Girls - not inclusive enough

Everybody loves Raymond - not inclusive enough.

That's just a list of top shows I grabbed from the internet.... You name a show that will pass the not offensive to anyone test and I can guarantee that it won't be worth watching.

--

--

Argumentative Penguin
Argumentative Penguin

Written by Argumentative Penguin

Playwright. Screenwriter. Penguin. Fan of rationalism and polite discourse. Find me causing chaos in the comments. Contact: argumentativepenguin@outlook.com

Responses (1)