Media executives are making a lot of money churning out trashy films, downright stupid television programs, music that speaks of hate toward women, sleazy magazines, and pornography-laden material that proliferates on the Web. While these media types are partly to blame for generating this stuff, someone is indeed buying this junk. This is not only dumb, it is also destructive. We are literally poisoning ourselves and future generations.

Culture is defined as the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time. Somehow we must confront the supreme ugly and sad nature of current trends and celebrate that which is good and right. If someone arrived from a remote culture where there was little or no contact with the “modern world” of America, how would they react to all of this sleazy material? For example how do you react when a pop-up ad for “XXXHot Young ThingsXXX” flashes on your computer screen when showing guests family vacation photos? Would you want your children to look at a website like that or for that matter any child to see that? I hope that your answer is a resounding “NO!”

One typical defense raised to those who would voice a complaint against such filth is that everything under the sun is protected by the First Amendment and that any attempt to regulate content is “censorship.” The second defense is “just turn it off”, no one is forcing you to listen to those musical lyrics or watch that particular TV show. This is nothing more than an insincere defense and really, it is quite pathetic. Afterall would some of these media types want their own children exposed to this trash or go a step further, would they want their own grown children to be in a pornographic movie or be the object of someone’s hate-filled musical lyrics? I would hope not.

First and foremost we should demand more from our entertainment, media, and adverstising industries. We should be able to watch a sporting event such as the Super Bowl or World Series and not have to keep a tight hold on the remote for fear of what might fall out, pop out, or stick out next. No one should have to drive down a highway looking at billboards advertising strip clubs. The intelligence and values of the vast mainstream of American culture is constantly being insulted by a “freakish fringe” promoted by the media and politicians. How can anyone in their right mind watch or listen to someone like Howard Stern or Hugh Hefner and yet these men are held up as some kind of role models and are placed in postions of high esteem as if they had something to offer us and our children. They don’t and they do nothing but appeal to those facets of human nature that can in fact destroy families and even whole cultures (not to mention one’s soul as well!).

Those who promote this stuff are also insincere because they do not like it at all when they are insulted by someone’s elses “hate speech.” There is a double standard in place and those who promote filth cannot have it both ways by hiding behind the First Amendment or the “just turn it off” defense when it only suits their purpose. The culture has become polluted with negative stereotypes, sexualized content, and very rough and inappropriate language. When individuals are bombarded by sexual imagery the “just turn it off” defense does not work because this imagery is everywhere. Our culture is toxic and it is damaging relationships that matter, especially in the family.