Marital struggle for control began with sin (Ge 3:10-13, 16-20). Man threw Woman under the bus when confronted by God for his sin; he was not deceived as Woman: Man knew better making his sin more agregious (1Ti 2:14). By this one act, Man destroyed his oneness, interdependence, with Woman seeking to escape judgment for his rebellion against God (Ro 2:1-8). Obviously, Woman felt betrayed because she was betrayed. Just as sin begets rebellion, it also begets fear, insecurity, which manifests as struggle for control to protect herself. God said this to her, and us, when He confirmed that in her sin she would struggle for control over Man who abandoned her. Yet, because they would die, and sin demands people over which to rule, they had to work together to produce children and continue man’s place in the world. Thus, a love-hate relationship was begun that continues today: Struggle for Control. Children also struggle for control, learn from their parents, and others, how to struggle for control and enter into their marriages perpetuating this struggle for Control. From this training comes all conflicts which are struggles for control in every walk of life.

I Love Lucy, was one of the most beloved marital comedies of the 1950s. It was also one of the best examples of Bernays use of entertainment as propaganda (Bernays and Propaganda.). The nephew of Sigmund Freud, father of the scientism, analytical psychology, he learned his craft during World War I from the masters such as Walter Lippmann. The fact that Mr. Lippmann was a socialist should explain why socialism was married to propaganda; even Mr. Gamsci understood the absolute need for propaganda as well as information control in advancing socialism in non-socialist countries with their consent! Mr. Bernays under their influence wrote the bible legitimizing propaganda as advertising and government information. Though these techniques were used in movies, their influence was limited to paying customers. Television changed everything. Now, propaganda could be pumped into nearly every home disguised as entertainment and news information. Early on during radio it was discovered that comedy was the nearly perfect medium to package propaganda’s message. It conveniently slipped past people’s guard to be accepted as harmless and a stress reliever of life’s daily strains. Comedy borrowed on the tried and true sinful scam of attacking others usually based on unchangeable characteristics such as height, appearance, etc. It was the weapon of the scoffer, the sarcastic agent of Satan who found readily acceptable audiences in conclaves of sinners (Ps 14:1; Pr 21:24; Ro 1:28-32; 2Pe 3:3).

I Love Lucy was based on the real-life marriage of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz who depicted an above average income couple with control conflicts evident in every marriage. Desi played the straight but not very bright man who was also capable of manipulating his wife for his own ends. Lucille played the expert scoffing, manipulating woman who would do nearly anything to get her way, often without a thought to the consequences. These weekly shows were depicted as mirrors of everyone’s marriage. The weekly moral is that there were few, if any consequences for lying and manipulating each other; everyone expressed acceptance and undying love after each escapade. Their real, off-camera, marriage did not fair as well ending in divorce. This harmless television comedy legitimized the divorce wave to hit America. Other comedy shows followed suit in various degrees of lying and manipulation, Dick Van Dyke Show, for example.

Whereas I Love Lucy limited verbal abuse and eschewed physical violence, The Honeymooners regaled in sarcasm and threats of violence against each other. This lower income, blue-collar, depiction of marriage legitimized violence against wives, and thus women, by men. The wife also would threaten the husband with violence but often made her point by belittling his masculinity as husband, provider, etc. These scenes were not only accepted but highly praised for depicting marriage as physical-emotional struggles to be won at nearly any cost. Comedy was the syringe that injected this corrosive flotsam into American homes weekly; later via syndication this poison was exported world-wide. Comedy was used because it was funny and thus not to be taken seriously! Comedy simply hid behind a false facade promoting and encouraging family control struggles even to the brink of verbal and physical violence. Though the shows ended with the unrealistic claims of true love, the couples quickly escalated back into violence with each provocation. This show legitimized family violence which became the mainstay of families at nearly every income level. Except, in real life people died, and they still die today at the hand of supposed love ones.

While the parents were being propagandized by their favorite marital struggle shows, children could not be left behind for they were the future. For thee struggles to continue and destroy the family, the children had to be propagandized also. Cartoons were originally written for adults, Betty Boop for example; however, after World War II and the rise of television, cartoons were seen as the perfect medium for capturing the attention of children. This was effective for advertising and appropriate information dissemination. The Flintstones was a cartoon adaptation of The Honeymooners. Though originally aimed at adults, its comedic cartoon facade encapsulated its corrosive message to children also, especially in syndication {means by which poison is recycled in country and repackaged for export to everyone else’s country}. The violence was toned down but the lying and manipulation was adapted to a supposed evolutionary world to show the timelessness of marital control conflicts. In addition to legitimizing various sinful marital control conflict strategies it also legitimized evolution as a reality; thus, bypassing science: legitimized scientism.

Just as The Flintstones continued The Honeymooners legacy, The Jetsons continued I Love Lucy’s legacy to the upper income segment of America which was growing due to the prosperity of the 1950s-1960s. This maladaptive legitimization of marital control struggles was set in some future where social life had eradicated poverty, war, while promoting approved social agenda goals. This conditioned both adults and children that marital control conflict was inevitable but would not derail the approved socialistic future envisioned as utopia for the world. Of course, movies and televisions can be written to achieve whatever goal is imagined; but, that does not mirror life in which these behaviors had and have real consequences.

Marital control conflicts cannot be eradicated. Sin is sin and sinners have eschewed God’s truths leaving themselves mired in the degradation and violence that lies engender (Ro 1:18-32). God does give guidance for marriages but it requires salvation; a changed godly nature (Ro 10:9-10; 2Co 5:17). The bedrock of returning to any semblance of one flesh is forgiveness which is a quality only enabled by the indwelling Spirit and maturing in Christ (1Co 2:14; 13:4-7; Ga 2:20; 5:17-25 Ep 5:22-6:4). Forgiveness only flows from Christ. Forgiveness does not ignore sin; it seeks to provide guidance from sin’s enslavement while recognizing that only God can pronounce judgment on sin (De 32:35; He 10:30). We all sin, even saved. Secret to removing control conflicts in the realization that control does not lie with husband or wife: it lies with Christ! The husband is the slave to Christ seeking to teach and protect the wife and children. The wife sets the example for the children by submitting to Christ through the husband as Sarah submitted to God through Abraham who gave her away, twice (Ge 20; 1Pe 3:1-7). Fathers are to discipline the children but not to abuse them just as God does not abuse us (He 12:5-11).