Individual Discipline Vs. Cultural Rot

A lot of liberals say that talk radio was responsible for, or at least contributed to, the terrorist bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

No, say conservatives. Talk radio is not to blame. It simply mirrors widely held attitudes in the culture.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas says liberals in Hollywood and the recording industry are at least partly responsible for the social horrors everyone deplores.

No, say liberals. Hollywood just mirrors reality.

Some say if one is true, both must be true.

Not necessarily, but let’s suppose that it is. Would Hollywood and the record industry make a deal? If talk radio were to go silent, would they stop making and distributing films and recordings that, in the words of Dole, “steal away innocence (and smother) our instinct for outrage”? Not likely.

The key to restoring lost innocence and civility does not lie in Hollywood or on talk radio - though neither can absolve itself from the outrageous and the vile contained in some (but not all) films and recordings. Cultural pollutants are at least as damaging as the kinds of pollutants pumped into the air, water and soil.

But the problem will not be solved with fingerpointing.

A survey for USA Weekend magazine reveals not only the new low in artistic crudity but also the strong public revulsion to the vulgar, the violent and the sexual.

Of the 65,000 readers who responded, 96 percent of them said they are very or somewhat concerned about sexual content on television, 97 percent said they are very or somewhat concerned about vulgar language and 97 percent said they are very or somewhat concerned about violence. Most also said they favor the installation of “V” chips to allow parents to block certain programming and said they would prefer television shows to be rated, as movies are.

But there is a more frightening question to confront.

Suppose Hollywood and the music industry are true reflections of who we are. Suppose our external “values” as a nation are a reflection of our inner “virtues.”

Perhaps our baseness derives from our selfcentered nature.

The fact is: Hollywood isn’t destroying us. As a friend of mine has said, Hollywood is simply “the piano player in the whorehouse.” People are buying what gives them immediate satisfaction.

Both liberals and conservatives want the quick fix.

Liberals turn to government to repair all social ills, allowing those who claim concern for the poor to escape their responsibility by appealing to the state. Conservatives also increasingly turn to government, believing that all social ills, from abortion to bad language, can be fixed by legislation and having the “right” president in office.

Rather than disciplining ourselves and our children, we ask others to make us stop before we sin again. The devil may make us do it, but we want something outside of us to make us stop.

This is why some conservatives so badly want one minute of prayer in the public schools. They mistakenly believe such a prayer - which would be watered down, if not unspoken - would create intellectual and moral manna, restoring what has been lost in education.

It is easier to persuade ourselves that government should restore our lost virtue, rather than make the effort required to live a virtuous life ourselves so that others might do likewise.

The power of a changed life is greater than the power of the state.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day; it said, “I Killed My Television.” A little radical? Perhaps.

But that’s the kind of individual decision-making that produces the results we say we want.

If television stinks, parents should stop watching it as an example to their children and spend time in alternative pursuits. If some movies are evil, don’t buy a ticket - Hollywood responds to money.

Support the good films. Ignore the bad ones.

Shame the filmmakers, if you wish, but shame on you if you don’t begin setting an example for your own family.