The General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard featured a Confederate flag prominently on its roof. And was, of course, named after the South's top general.

If you think back to your childhood – or even just a year or two – there are things that used to be totally fine that aren't any more.

Our changing social landscape has seen a marked decline in our acceptance of things which used to fuel popular television, films and music – racism, sexism, homophobia, cross-dressing and more stereotypes which are no longer socially accepted.

In news on Thursday , a US cable network has pulled re-runs of the classic 80s sitcom Dukes of Hazzard due to the portrayal of the Confederate flag on the show, following the Charleston shooting last month, in which nine black churchgoers in South Carolina were killed in a racially motivated attack.

TV3 New Zealand cartoon Bro'Town comes into a new light...

It's something most people wouldn't have thought twice about, but in light of recent events it seems to be in bad taste.

But Dukes of Hazzard isn't alone. There is a whole raft of shows that in their prime were thought acceptable – even funny – that now raise too many red flags for comfort.

Bro'Town

Let's start on our own doorstep. When it first came out, Bro'Town was great because it showed brown faces in a modern forum in a way New Zealand had never seen. But it shot itself in the foot by perpetuating stereotypes of Maori and Pacific Islanders and while they were at it, threw in a stereotyped Asian character called Wong, a stereotypically effeminate gay character, a healthy dose of sexism – courtesy of Valea's "peow-peow" line – and a few jokes at the expense of their fa'afafine principal for good measure.

90s comic book heroes

Animated series seem to have a hard time getting it right. And cartoons were no better. If you grew up watching X-Men, Superman, Spider-Man or any of the classic hero cartoons, you'll have encountered a certain breed of sexism (and that almost all of the major heroes even now are white). On one side, heroes perpetuate a harmful image of the male ideal.

They are all over 6 feet tall, absurdly muscular and square-jawed and usually hold down a pretty good or well-paid job (scientists, playboys, inventors, philanthropists etc). And on the other – and this has thankfully changed now – they portrayed women as damsels in distress, and on the rare occasion they did get some power, they inexplicably resemble the male ideal – because you know, only men can be strong.

Power Rangers

There's nothing like teaching kids ignorance from a young age, and if the animated superheroes weren't doing it, Power Rangers sure did. In high school, I found out a friend's father was one of the parents responsible for shutting down Power Rangers in New Zealand. He said it was because of the violence.

I'd have thought there'd be more of an issue with the inherent racism and sexism in the show. The Pink Ranger was a ditsy, blonde white girl. The Red Ranger was Native American. The Black Ranger was African-American while in some versions it was the Green Ranger who was African. The Yellow Ranger was Asian. Their robot was Mexican. Aaaand the White Ranger was the strongest, because obviously. God bless the 90s.

I Dream of Jeannie

My mother used to watch this show. As a kid I was enthralled with the idea of a magic genie that wasn't blue, animated and voiced by Robin Williams. But Jeannie's main appeal is also one of her biggest flaws. She's so exotic. She's wears Arabian dress and is surrounded by Middle-Eastern-inspired decor.

But she's white. She's also an all-powerful genie, but she gives it all up to become a housewife for a man she calls "master". Now, feminism is all about the freedom of choice and if Jeannie wants to be a housewife she should, but there's a bit too much of a power play here to be comfortable with. I was going to lump Samantha from Bewitched in this same thread, but at least she demanded some respect – Jeannie simply lives to serve.

Twilight

Because nothing says love and mutual respect like domination, control and jealousy – am I right? And nothing says diversity like a town full white, straight, cis folks while the natives are jumping off cliffs and telling stories around a fire just on the outskirts of town where – just by the way – they have to stay on account of treaty signed with the white folk to keep 'em out.

Meanwhile, the female lead is ridiculously useless at just about everything, the male lead is perfect, and the only females with any real perceived strength are either the baddies or portrayed as stereotypical mean girls. Is it any wonder 50 Shades of Grey turned out the way it did based on things like this?

Love Thy Neighbour

If there was ever a show so blatantly racist as Love Thy Neighbour, I'd be impressed. The entire premise is based on a white couple coming to terms with having black neighbours. It was – disturbingly – pretty popular upon its release. The main white male character was portrayed as an idiot while the main black male character was supposed to be the more sophisticated of the two, but words like nig-nog, Sambo, honky and paleface were still bandied between the two for laughs. Even better though, there was a spin-off series, Love Thy Neighbour in Australia, which saw the main character dropped into a Sydney suburb literally called Blacktown.

Black-ish

The worst part about Black-ish is that unlike Love Thy Neighbour, it's new. It's born of this era of change and it should know better. But not only is it stereotypically racist toward people who aren't black, throwing out all the crazy-white-people jokes you can think of, it's also unexpectedly homophobic.

In one episode, various sports and activities were out of bounds for a character because those around him deemed them to be for white people. There's also an episode in which father and son try to tackle the sex talk but end up tripping over manliness and "looking a bit gay". It tries to take a stand and speak on issues affecting the black community, but it does so in a way which just makes it worse.

Glee

The Holy Grail of things that used to appear inclusive and revolutionary until you really think about it and realise... not so much.

Glee was basically all the stereotypes all the time. The conservative Jewish girl, the sassy, fashion-forward gay guy, the attitude-packed overweight black girl who sings soul, the hyper-sexualised Latina cheerleader, the dumb blonde cheerleader – the list goes on. It gets so good that when an Irish kid comes on the show, they all start making leprechaun jokes. They say the road to hell was paved with good intentions.

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