petent administrator. Both characters are employed
at a fast-food restaurant, where they continue to
work despite their utter lack of intelligence or re-
sponsibility. Other town residents include a variety
of people who either live shallow existences like
Beavis and Butt-Head or are too busy pursuing mate-
rialism to care about the future of the title charac-
ters.
Critics ofBeavis and Butt-Headdiffered on the
symbolism and impact of the show. To some observ-
ers, Beavis and Butt-Head represented the typical
American teenager—uneducated, self-centered, and
shallow. Other critics saw Beavis and Butt-Head as
the product of an America that had lost is moral
compass. Two boys were violent, cynical, and stupid
because that was the culture around them. Despite
not receiving any great critical acclaim,Beavis and
Butt-Headwas a commercial success, generating a
compilation album of their favorite songs titledThe
Beavis and Butt-Head Experience(1993) and a feature
film,Beavis and Butt-Head Do America(1996). The an-
imated characters also appeared onThe David Letter-
man Show, at the Oscars, and on the cover ofRolling
Stonemagazine.
Impact While the show’s run was not particularly
long, the program had considerable cultural im-
pact. The grainy animation, slang, and intentionally
offensive content was a model for later programs
aimed at younger audiences. While the social com-
mentary of the show was often lost on critics, its pop-
ular appeal elevated the show to a minor cult status.
Further Reading
Cooper, Cynthia A.Violence on Television: Congressio-
nal Inquir y, Public Criticism, and Industr y Re-
sponse—A Policy Analysis. Lanham, Md.: University
Press of America, 1996.
Sun, Douglas. “ ‘Change It! This Sucks!’ Beavis and
Butt-Head, Idiot Savants of Cultural Criticism.” In
New Directions of American Humor, edited by David E.
Sloane. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press,
1998.
Steven J. Ramold
See also Cable television;MTV Unplugged; Music;
Real World, The;Simpsons, The;South Park; Television.
Bernardin, Joseph Cardinal
Identification Roman Catholic archbishop of
Chicago
Born April 2, 1928; Columbia, South Carolina
Died November 14, 1996; Chicago, Illinois
Bernardin’s position as leader of the largest Catholic diocese
in the United States enhanced his abilities to shape Catho-
lics’ thinking on a number of social issues, but his handling
of sexual abuse accusations (including one against him-
self ) made him a figure of great controversy as he protected
the Church’s right to carr y out its own program of disciplin-
ing offenders.
Joseph Bernardin’s ascendancy within the Catholic
Church was rapid and highly public. The son of Ital-
ian immigrants, he grew up in Columbia, South Car-
olina, where he became a priest in 1952. Only four-
teen years later, he was made a bishop, serving first as
an auxiliary in Atlanta and later as archbishop of
Cincinnati. He achieved national attention for his
work as general secretary and later president of the
National Council of Catholic Bishops, where he pro-
moted policies calling for respect for life and aboli-
tion of all nuclear weapons.
In July, 1982, Bernardin was named archbishop of
Chicago, a diocese then racked with financial scan-
dal. Elevated to the Catholic Church’s College of
Cardinals a year later, over the next decade he
strived to restore confidence among Catholics in his
diocese while working across the nation to promote
programs of social justice and respect for life. In
1991, however, the diocese became the focal point of
national interest in the growing number of scandals
involving sexual abuse by priests. Bernardin acted
quickly to investigate charges against several priests,
setting up a commission to look into these and other
allegations; eventually he removed dozens of priests
from their pastoral duties. In the fall of 1993, how-
ever, he became the target of allegations made by
Steven Cook, who claimed Bernardin had abused
him when Cook was a seminarian in the Cincinnati
diocese. Bernardin moved swiftly and openly to deal
with these charges, proclaiming his innocence on
the Cable News Network (CNN) and in numerous
other interviews. Eventually, Cook withdrew the
charges, and the two were reconciled.
In 1995, Bernardin learned that he had pancrea-
tic cancer. An operation in July was initially deemed
successful, and he returned to work, publicly com-98 Bernardin, Joseph Cardinal The Nineties in America