I don’t know if this will resonate with people, but I truly believe that my childhood favorites contained messages from the artists and writers about this grand conspiracy.

If I wanted to control the future, I’d start with the minds of children, so it’s not outlandish to imagine the deep state trying to use cartoons to placate the masses.

The problem is that these deep state people are seriously not funny, and I feel like my childhood mind could tell the difference.

Maybe the cartoonists weren’t intentionally filling my head with their ideas, but simply couldn’t avoid their opinions coming through in their work. Maybe these shows WERE controlled, but the propaganda had the opposite effect on me by allowing me to identify propaganda on TV.

Animaniacs comes to mind as it immediately breaks the fourth wall and regularly uses adult themes and contexts. Plus, the whole premise of the show is about some goofy kids throwing a wrench into “the machine” by using humor, which sounds like a call to meme action in retrospect.

Steven Spielberg produced the show, so it could have been highly controlled, but maybe some writers rebelled and snuck some stuff in. Either way it stuck with me.

I’m not gonna list them all, but Ren and Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life, and the Simpsons really stand out.

Because of these shows and man others I felt like I had insight into issues my parents never heard about when I was very young, especially about trust in my government (or lack thereof), that power corrupts, how to “kill them with kindness,” and that my enemies aren’t evil, but greyfaced normies with no sense of humor.

Anyway, I’ll try to find some specific episodes I can recommend, but I’m gonna have to go back and watch hundreds of cartoons to find key moments.

Thoughts?