Three Little Words

                                                                                          

I'm old-fashioned. My teen age years were during the 1950s. (I hear the wheels clicking in your head as you do the calculations. – No. It's the calculator app on your tablet or telephone that I hear.) I grew up with “Father Knows Best” and with the belief that the nuclear family was the norm. Husband and wife slept in separate bedsⁱ and the possibilities of premarital and extramarital sex were unmentionable.ⁱⁱ There was, of course, no such thing as homosexuality, so same-sex marriage wasn't part of the conversation. People and their language were polite and proper. It was a real, eufunctional,ⁱⁱⁱ family.

I was a teen-ager, so my own world was a little racier than what was depicted on television. Certainly the language I heard was, and so were the stories about sex. But it wasn't all that much racier. I went to one of those “special” high schools.^iv There was an emphasis on math and science, and I guess that for most of the students the concerns were more intellectual and less social. There was much more of the “social” behavior in college, but even there people knew that what they were doing and what they were discussing were outside of societal norms. That provided a lot of the attraction. But there were still subjects and language which were taboo in “mixed company.” That was then …^v

In 1972 George Carlin introduced his monologue, "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television," and everything was out in the open. For a long time the monologue was delivered only on recordings or in nightclubs, because censorship and the FCC couldn't control the content of the acts presented, and Carlin's words^vi brought in the crowds and the money, so there was no one in the business who wanted to limit him. There were some who were scandalized by his act, but they were powerless to do anything about it. At best they could only earn temporary limitations on him, but, ultimately, his words were deemed by the Supreme Court to be protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

But that was then, and times have changed. This is not meant to suggest that people acted any differently then as compared to now, only that people didn't want to hear about it. Human behavior hasn't changed, but our openness to demonstration and discussion have. At least to a degree. Now, on network programs, some of the words, and a variety of suggestions of sexual activity, are the daily fare, along with plots and characters never appearing during my youth. It's unusual, for example, to see a few shows without experiencing some crime for which the criminal doesn't pay, or intimations or admissions that an important character is gay. In fact, that is often imortant to the plot, although such a situation was never acknowledged in the “old” days.

Those, however, are among the less blatant examples of the changes that have occurred. Because pay television – cable, satellite, and the like – are not regulated by the FCC, no limitations are placed on them. The theory is that a paying customer unhappy with the content will simply stop paying for it, but that option, they aver, is not open to someone who doesn't pay – someone who relies on the good taste of sponsors. I don't approve of much of what is shown either on pay or on “free” television, but I find the FCC's distinction to be disingenuous. Someone who dislikes a program for any reason – including sexual content – is free to turn to another channel and to let the advertiser know why he is doing so.

Nonetheless, the content of pay TV often, to use the current jargon, pushes the envelope even further. What we used to call pornography is the norm, and Carlin's seven words appear with regularity. If all expletives were “bleeped,” there would be little remaining in the scripts of some shows. The audio would be an almost continuous bleep. And if scenes depicting sex, or those featuring partially or completely unclothed characters, were absent, there would be a marked reduction in the video content as well.

But, to paraphrase the Bard, the plot's the thing, and what plot could be more appealing than one featuring “America's favorite serial killer.” That's “Dexter,” one of Showtime's most popular characters. Admittedly he's a father, but in this case father doesn't know best. Pornography, graphic language, a serial killer^vii – as you guessed, it's largely a comedy. And the title character, whatever his faults, is lovable.

But the real problem isn't Dexter. It's us.^viii We not only tolerate this kind of programing, we love it. And with society's “progress,” only those of us who are old enough recognize the cultural downturn. Others see it as a reflection of real life, as they experience and see it in the media every day.^ix Schadenfreude, however, just isn't my thing. I'd rather live life with father.^x He knows best.

Next episode: “America – Land of Enchantment” – Back to budget reduction.

i      And nudity was absolutely inconceivable.

ii     “The Moon is Blue,” which appeared on the screen in 1953, was condemned by the Motion Picture Production Association. The film, which contained the words “virgin,” “mistress,” and “pregnant,” was considered obscene.

iii     The idea of a dysfunctional family hadn't yet been born. At least not on television. And the word is spelled correctly. I know because I just made it up.

iv     At that time, back in the age of dinosaurs, “special” suggested “above average” rather than having the current connotation of physically or intellectually disadvantaged. (Pardon the attempt, however successful, of political correctness. I disdain it under ordinary circumstances but “calling it like it is” [an equally regrettable term] isn't acceptable at present.)

v     There's no such thing as “mixed company” anymore. We're all equally amoral or immoral.

vi     And his WORDS.

vii   What's not to like?

viii  We?

ix    It's certainly more realistic than the “reality shows” that pollute television daily.

x     Actually Dexter lives with his dead father supervising and advising.