"Innocence"?

Andy Griffith was born in 1926. Don Knotts was born in 1924.

The characters of Andy Taylor and Barney Fife were the same ages as the actors who played them. It was established in the TV series that Andy and Barney were both veterans of the United States Army. Based on their ages this would make both of them veterans of WWII.

One of the commenters on the "Hillbilly TV Show" post called The Andy Griffith Show "the days of sweet innocence". That thought was in my mind when I wrote my comments on The AGS. But I have to wonder how "innocent" were the characters?

By "innocent" I mean how unaware of the evil of which men are capable were they?

Both of the principal characters of the show wore the uniform of the United States military during the Second World War. Both of them were literate informed men. It was established in the show that Barney was a librarian on an Army base during his service so he would have seen every major newspaper and magazine published during the war era. He would have been well acquainted with the details of both the Holocaust and the emerging Soviet threat.

Although Andy Taylor's service was not defined so well in the series it is apparent from his character that he was far from ignorant about the world and its history. Especially its recent history.

Even aunt Bee, who was a generation older than Andy and Barney, would have lived through the horror of WWI as well as WWII and been no stranger to the evil of which men would have been capable.

My point in all this?

Only that what the characters of The Andy Griffith Show knew was what the producers, writers and audience of the show during its first run knew.

They knew about Auschwitz and the Gulag and were still able to sit on the front porch and sing about the "little brown church in the valley".

The Andy Griffith Show was not "innocent" of evil. It was, rather, aware of evil and made the conscience choice not to be dragged down by evil. That is a choice which we all are capable of making.

The evil which confronts civilization today is Islamofascisim. To be aware of this threat and to be willing to do whatever is necessary to defeat it is surely the duty of every free man and woman. However, to not allow it to overwhelm us is also the duty of every free person.

To grant the insane mullahs of Iran or Saudi Arabia the power to rob our lives of joy is to give them a victory almost as great as if we had submitted to sharia. The greatest victory we can win is to continue. To go on enjoying our existence under the sun.

Nothing could annoy the death worshipers more. And to me that makes it all worthwhile.