A Little Less Passion, A Little More Common Decency in Media

Author Kurt Vonnetgut, once said “A little less passion and a little more common decency.”1 He could have been talking about where media was going and has gone for the last several decades. Words and actions that wouldn’t have made it through the critical filter are now commonplace. Reviewers while encouraging shock value and gratuitous sex and violence, in movies and television pan the efforts of more wholesome fare as not sophisticated. It’s a sad commentary on our culture that the media, which has the potential to bring out the best in us, chooses to bring out the worst.

How Low Can You Go?

In a review of a television special called “Inside TV Land: Taboo TV”, critic David Bianculli of the New York Daily News wrote, “Taboo TV goes from one end of the spectrum to the other, from “All in the Family” to “Married with Children”, from Black and White TV, to off color cable. From separate beds to same sex kisses.”2 The reviewer gleefully praised the “off color” scenes from the documentary and poked fun of the classic television programs such as “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” and “I Love Lucy”, programs that relied heavily on creativity, good writing, and acting. It seems the more parameters a production team has, the more creative and professional they can get. With nothing left to the imagination and morality being what is “taboo,” now, the less satisfied our culture has become.

The Words You Can Now Say Anywhere

In the 1970’s comedian George Carlin had a routine about the words you couldn’t say on television. He would outline what they were and it became a comedy classic. Since the1980’s Carlin had to retire that routine, because the obscenities that you couldn’t say on television are regularly heard in prime time. There are words you can’t say on television that have replaced the once censored words of yesterday they are non-politically correct words. If a person is against the lifestyle of homosexuals and voices that opinion they are labeled as homophobic and bigoted on most television programs. If a person is against abortion they are often labeled as “untouchable” in the entertainment industry. In confirming the bias of the media author William McGowan relates a story of a media roundtable in which an ABC News Staffer stood up to speak on “diversity,” “The staffer,” McGowan writes, “was embroiled in a child custody case, stood up and said: “I have kept it out of the media so far, but all I can say is that if the judge doesn’t award custody to me, she (the judge) is going to make the news.” 3
The media with all of its technology, outlets, and talent has consistently reached for the lowest common denominator from music to television entertainment and news, from Broadway to Hollywood. On the Canadian website gradingthemovies.com , critic Rob Gustafson writes “[Filmmakers] are creating new ingredients-a lot more verbal sexual innuendo, for instance, and very explicit sexual innuendoâÂ?¦They’re mouthing the “F” word, they’re using the finger. It’s amazing how creative they can beâÂ?¦” This was a review on how filmmakers are getting away with a lot more for PG movies than ever before. What has become acceptable is less than edifying or creative for that matter. With all the technological advances that the media can afford now it’s troubling to see how we misuse it. It’s hardly progressive.

Good Versus Evil

A quote on how our sense of outrage has eroded is by the 89- year old screenplay writer, Daniel Taradash. He illustrates how times have changed while being interviewed about a film he wrote fifty years ago called “From Here to Eternity.” “In those days it was considered pornographic. Today it would be considered Mother Goose.”4 With all of what is going wrong with the media, what is going right? There seemed to be a change in our views on what we would tolerate and what we wouldn’t from the media. It happened after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Some movies weren’t released because they were too violent. Actors refused to take roles that were “evil.” In the soap opera “General Hospital,” actress Constance Towers asked to be written out of the program after September 11th. Miss Towers felt that her role as Helena was too violent and was not the kind of role she could be associated with. Her publicist told me that the viewer mail was “so great” that the network ABC enforced her contract and refused to grant her request. When you read reviews from critics and contemplate the rating system even a tragedy like September 11th makes changes in our media landscape short lived. When a person scans the reviews for a movie or television program that you can watch as a family the choices are sadly slim. The media has an opportunity to build our society up and also tear it down. When you read how many crimes are inspired by when someone reads a dark novel, views a graphic film, or listens to obscene songs you realize the media is in the driver’s seat. Coupled with the erosion of morality the two are heading on a collision course. But when you see the good things from the media, which educate, inspire, and build up character it’s a classic case of good vs. evil.

Hey- I’m Passionate Too!

There is nothing wrong with passion. I know plenty of people who have a passion for their work, their family, their marriage, and their God. So when Vonnegut writes “A little less passion” he is obviously talking about something else. Yet the analogy is intriguing. Writer’s passionately write about their cause yet somehow run over people that get in the way of that passion. We in the media are guilty of this very thing. We are passionate so we throw out objectivity. We are passionate about “thinking outside the box” and so we throw out conventional thinking. We are passionate about always being right and so we argue with each other without giving in or listening to the other side. Is that what’s wrong with the media? We are passionate about what we do but we lack “common decency.”