Anything goes: moral bankruptcy of television and Hollywood

In the case of situation comedies, their laughter directed towards premarital or extramarital sex constitutes positive reinforcement with documentable -- some would say detestably corrosive -- consequences. Apparently, the worst mistake young men or women can make involves choosing abstinence when everything around them reflects the sexual obsession that supposedly typifies life in America.

"With sex-starved Amandas and out-of-the-closet `Friends' crowding early prime time, would homespun TV characters stand a chance today?," asks TV Guide, already knowing the answer. "Friends" has the concept of the traditional family squarely and effectively in its sights. "Living Single" offers racial and ethnic stereo-types that might even shock Archie Bunker, as well as the thousands who have invested their lives in something called the civil rights movement. The characters on "Melrose Place," as someone once said of an oft-married Hollywood figure, "could find sex in the crotch of a tree." "Melrose Place" producer Frank South, choosing an unfortunate metaphor for his show's promotion of homosexuality says, "We'll keep pushing Do the songs of fools now outweigh the rebukes of the wise? Check out "sweeps" months and find out.

In fact, Hollywood's advocacy of gays and lesbians exposes a glaring double standard. The author of The Celluloid Closet proudly boasts that "Hollywood ... taught straight people what to think about gay people and gay people what to think about themselves. No one escaped its influence." United Features Syndicate critic Kirk Nice-wonger notes, "Aren't many of those who would nod solemnly in agreement with these sentiments the same people who scoff at concerns about movie violence influencing real-life behavior?" Humor influences as well and perhaps more effectively because it is not perceived as a form of violence or even as attempted influence.

By 1980. the out-of-wedlock birth rate reached a total of 18% of annual births and then jumped to slightly over 30% by 1992. While the percentages are frightening enough, the real numbers are numbing: in 1992, 1,224,876 babies were born to single women, and white females between the ages of 20 and 30 constitute the fastest-growing group. At this rate, by 2015, 50% of all children born will be born out of wedlock. No "Murphy Brown" this, but the reflection of a generally acidic attitude toward the traditional views of marriage and morality.

Situation comedies can not be singled out as the sole cause of such a decline, but the attitudes they spawn and constantly reinforce contribute directly to die problem. Researcher Robert Maginnis reports that, when individuals between the ages of 18 and 30 were "asked to assess the degree to which today's movies, television, and music lyrics encourage teenage sex," 63% said "a great deal" or "quite a lot."

Raunchily destructive comic attitudes toward traditional virtues and families did not assume center stage overnight. For centuries, laughter was seen as a method of teaching, following French playwright Moliere's belief that the comic sought "to correct through amusement." Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, according to author J.Y.T. Grieg, thought that "comedy performed no useful social function even at its best, and might at its worst lead directly to corruption and immorality."