When Did America Decide Kids Are Stupid?

I've got TV this week.  Not much.  A few broadcast channels.  Hence this is not a full survey of children's programming.  It's impressions from PBS programming.

When did kids get stupid?  The shows on offer are insulting to the intelligence of a toddler.  Squeaky baby animal characters are the most common lead figures.  Followed by squeaky baby humanoids.  Ew. 

In my day....(spoken like an oldster)...we had cartoons with irony and snark. I like irony and snark (my character would be "Captain Obvious).  I liked irony and snark as a child.  Bugs Bunny, who is now a baby for some creepy anti-aging reason, was sarcastic and a bit mean sometimes.  Elmer Fudd may have a stutter, but he doesn't talk like a squeaky toy.  No wonder children end up surfing the internet and finding porn.  It's less insulting, though possibly more damaging. 

Of course, I was the kid who loathed Mr. Rogers.  I don't like being talked down to and that cat puppet gave me the willies.  Still, he's starting to look better to me.  There were real topics and sometimes he talked about issues that were in the news.

We were also apparently smart enough back in the day to understand that even though the road runner could fall off a cliff and be smashed flat, then stretch-pop back into a normal shape, such a feat was not possible for human children.  I do not remember, nor can I find evidence of, any rash of children jumping from heights because they were inspired to emulate the road runner.  We also rarely built bombs despite Wile E. Coyote's constant attempts.   They never seemed to work for him anyway.

The cartoons I've seen this week have been pandering to the stupidest children and their genetic source material, the parents.  I don't like it. 

The laundromat I go to generally has a dvd of a classic cartoon from the 1960s and 1970s running so I have seen the adult Bugs Bunny recently for comparison.  I AM disturbed by the weird racism in the old cartoons.  Perhaps there can be new exciting versions that are not completely infantile and not racist. 

I also wonder what happens when kids turn about 7 or 8 years old and they can't hack the squeaky baby pablum cartoons and switch to hyperviolent superhero cartoon and live action stuff. 
Probably they will grow up just fine like humans always have, but they will have wasted all that time on crap TV.