The bigger problem in America surrounding the Duck Dynasty hysteria

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. The bigger problem is the deliberate dumbing down of America

Twenty years ago, Republicans were pointing to A&E as the reason that PBS was unnecessary. It imported a lot of British and Australian dramas and comedies and had regular arts programming.

Then, just around the time GW Bush came into office (I just checked the Wikipedia entry--it was 2002), new management came in, and one by one, the intelligent programs disappeared, to be replaced by the dumbest, crudest, reality shows the owners could find.

See the Wikipedia article for a list of what A&E used to produce:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A&E_%28TV_channel%29#1984.E2.80.932002

It is only one of the cable channels that has gone to the dogs as the six major media companies continue on their quest to make Americans dumber.

The last straw for me was when BBC America began filling its prime time with Star Trek: The Next Generation reruns and Dancing with the Stars reruns.

I am now a happily cable-free viewer who watches the best of worldwide and classic television and movies on Netflix, Hulu Plus, and a few other services available on the Roku; DVDs, and PBS broadcasts.