In critiquing the crashness of current popular culture, I sometimes think people don’t give enough credit for the crashness of previous generations.  Take this editorial from the National Review… “Triumph of the Vulgarians“:

(The two most rebellious comedians in my youth were Bill Cosby and Jerry Seinfeld — because they kept it clean or, in Seinfeld’s case, at least kept it suggestive.)

Sure, sure… Cosby… but something about the Seinfeld show and the “suggestive” as opposed to his statement on “nobody watches Miley Cyrus twerk and asks ‘What is she getting at'”…  Had to hedge there, I see…

Sigh.

Just about every other month, Donald Wildmon would put out a full page ad on the back of the Sunday comics section, which greatly rejiggered the comics pages and shrunk everything.  It was annoying, even if reading Wildmon rave outrage at the latest televised offenses was somewhat amusing.  Wildmon knew what he’s seeing… and he knows what “Master of Your Domain” and “Sponge-worthy” means.

Meanwhile, I saw something odd when I briefly caught a minute of the 700 Club.  Currently conservative activist and former star of the show Cheers John Ratzinberger.  Or, Cliff Clavin.  The show host propping up stills from that television show repeatedly, and… I remember an episode which consisted of … erm… Sam and Rebecca trying to have sex, but getting entangled with conflicting psychological advice from Frasier and Lilith.

I think it’s the reason my 6th CCD teacher (the one we had for a few weeks before an absolute nutcase stepped in the breach)  was absolutely horrified by Cheers.

Not that everything is great.  I don’t know how you navigate a child through the popular culture, but it strikes me that nothing is on a downward cliff, so much as right at a plateau.  I honestly don’t know what the difference, in terms of crashness not aesthetics, between Miley Cyrus’s performance and Madonna’s “writhing around in a chopped off wedding dress”.

To a great extent, indicators suggest things are “okay”.  Bullying, for instance, is down.  And that one seems to be something coming out of “political correctness”, ie: quit being mean to gays.  Which brings us to something a little odd…

Putin explains the reason for an “American Style School Shooting“, a tragic event that occurred in Russia, and…

Meanwhile, Putin took a slightly different tack, lamenting the lack of cultural education of Russia’s youth. “The new generation … needs to be raised with good artistic taste and the ability to understand and value the theatrical, dramatic and musical arts,” he stated. “And if this was done as it should be in our country, maybe there would not be tragedies like the tragedy in Moscow today.”

Hm.  The thing is a little odd, because as of right now, this is an isolated event.  Not enough Checkov?  I suppose I should just be glad Putin didn’t blame it on Pussy Riot.

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