WWTvD

Morality in America

This country seems to be having a moral crisis. I say "seems" for a reason- this country thinks it is having a moral crisis, that we are all going to hell in a hand basket, and fast. First of all, this is a load of crap. The world is no more or less "moral" than it was 50 years ago or 2000 years ago. We look at history through rose-color glasses and remember the "good old days". But remember, in the "good old days" we had slavery and then segregation, not to mention absolutely no labor rights for the worker who wasn’t legally a slave. So don’t give me that "good old days" BS. If anything we are better off now than ever- more people have more rights in this country right now than ever before- anywhere. Yes we have rights, but what about morality? The more we let people practice their rights, the higher a "morality quotient" we have.

Now, the media takes a lot of the flak for this alleged moral decay. Why is this? It’s an easy, faceless target. It’s also a lot easier than taking any responsibility our selves. Passing the buck is the way of life in the American 90’s. It’s so much easier to blame the TEEvee and Quake for school shooting than to actually raise one’s own children. If you let the TEEvee raise your children, what right do you have to criticize it?

The TEEvee takes a lot of heat in the morally corrupt department. The TEEvee just gives us what we want. And if we don’t like it we don’t have to watch it, you know. We could read the bible or Aristotle instead  if we are so concerned with morality. But we don’t. We are lazy. And that’s fine, because it’s all a lie anyhow. The TEEvee is a mirror of society- it gives us what we want- with the violence and the sex and all of that- but it also gives us a heavy does of morality.

That’s right, the TEEvee displays morality. Don’t deny it- you know it’s true. Think about it: there’s always a message. Even Jerry Springer gives us a little moral at the end of each show. His message is the essential moral message of Television, as well as most modern religions- it is the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Jerry Springer asks us to respect ourselves and one another. Sitcoms are always enforcing this morality. Watch some and you will know that I am right. My Three Sons. Family Ties. The Cosby Show. Diff’rent Strokes. Growing Pains. Anything on ABC’s TGIF. It’s true. Almost every episode of any sitcom features a moral dilemma which is almost always resolved by the character in question by doing the right thing. So I say, whenever in doubt ask yourself this: "WWTvD"- What Would TEEvee Do?

I’m not full of crap. Really. And I might not have to go to hell for saying this either. My science is too tight. Listen: Asking yourself what J.C. would do is a good thought. It might work for some people. But I would suggest that most of these people don’t spend much time thinking for themselves. One must remember that J.C. was just another man while living on earth. He made his mistakes too. Why, one time he got mad at a bunch of idiots and angrily threw them out of the temple. It’s a human reaction. But it was all pre-ascension, so it was not really to be unexpected. People get angry.

TEEvee, on the other hand does not get angry. It can’t. Not unless we want it to. TEEvee, as a whole, has to live within the perimeters that we set through the all-powerful device known as ratings. TEEvee has to please us. On all levels. It can’t tell us to worship Satan because we as a people wouldn’t tolerate it. It is for this same reason that it reflects the same morality that we as a people practice. The TEEvee re-enforces our basic morality- the Golden Rule- because it is the one scrap of morality that is basic to the human experience. It is the basis of all morality, no matter who wrote it- God, Jerry Springer, Thomas Jefferson, or whoever. We all know it to be true. TEEvee as a medium hammers this home every day. TEEvee must abide by our sense of right and wrong, and it is all too happy to provide programming that re-enforces our notions of right and wrong by many means- it’s just good business sense. So next time you are mired in a moral conundrum, just ask yourself this:

What Would TEEvee Do?

WWTvD?