Hereโs Ben Stein in 1979 describing television as an engine of cultural demoralization. He argues that a small clique of producers and writers pushed a left-coded inversion of reality onto the public. They despised traditional power centers and hated figures like Buckley. They propagandized the nation into accepting a fake world where businessmen are villains, criminals are the good-guys, small towns are sinister, military officers are proto-fascists, and work barely exists.
"Can we get rid of this ayatollah T-shirt? Khomeini died years ago."
"But, Marge, it works on any ayatollah-- Ayatollah Nakhbadeh, Ayatollah Zahedi. As we speak, Ayatollah Razmara and his cadre of fanatics are consolidating their power."
"I don't care who's consolidating their power."