The Coarsening of America

It is hardly a revelation that standards of taste and civility in America have been in decline for decades.  Visual sex, oral vulgarity, and, of course, the written varieties have become commonplace and, in that sense, unremarkable.

But despite these depressing trends, as viewed by the morel socially conservative (some political liberals included) members of the community, standards of decency and probity have had strong defenders.

So it was not comforting to those battling for old fashioned values to learn that staid national public radio (NPR) was broadcasting lurid details of the recently concluded Sandusky pedophilia trial. 

Those who ask what can one expect from liberal NPR are overlooking the fact that it is also pretentiously highbrow.  Salacious National Enquirer-type stories used to be ignored (conservative viewpoints still are).

NPR did display a certain sensitivity about the subject found in few other outlets:  “Listeners may want to turn down the volume if they don’t want to hear the latest raw details from the Sandusky trial in Pennsylvania”.

Alas, that warning probably prompted many in the audience to turn it up.

How has it come to pass that so many of us now relish wallowing in – or at least viewing – the dark side of human behavior?  Where have all the inhibitions gone?