I just saw something that was absolutely astounding. It was on a U.S. cable station called "Buzzr," that replays old game shows. It's available on some of the free streaming services with a VPN. And I do mean this was old, dating back some 67 years to 1956.

The show in question was "To Tell The Truth," an ancient black and white quiz show hosted by Bud Collyer and several quasi-celebrity panelists, who try to guess which one of three contestants is the actual person who accomplished something.

I hadn't seen it in decades (other than the short lived ABC remake) and what I saw could never have made it to air today. One of the trio that came out on stage was a man who wrote Valentine's Day greeting cards and just happened to be what they called an American Indian. (The word Indigenous apparently did not exist back then.)

During the course of the questioning of the three men, there were jokes about wigwams and scalping, which had my mouth dropping open. Can you imagine that happening on any show today?

At one point, one of the questioners, playwright and producer Abe Burrows, casually mentioned that 'next week, we're going to have on the cowboys - you know, the good guys.' 

Wow. I'm actually surprised they reran this episode, given some of the stuff that went on during this segment. Although it's only fair to note it was a product of its time. But nothing like that would ever fly today. It's just amazing how insensitive a show like that could be back then without a hint of its own racism. The contrast with the standards of today were simply stunning.

And to tell the truth, it just shows how times have changed - thankfully, in most cases, for the better.