Pornification of mainstream America

It seems while I was gone America’s taken some quantum leaps toward liberalizing prime-time TV. I really had no idea just how far this revolution had proceeded until I read this eye-opening article by Frank Rich.

The article gives plenty of specifics as to how once-taboo topics have become typical prime-time fodder. Anything goes.

I would have thought that during the Age of Bush the media might have become more conservative, but it seems just the opposite is true. In fact, the administration has changed its tune when it comes to the “morality” issues they were whining about during the 2000 campaign.

It’s all about money, of course, as Rich tells us:

A classic example of the political turnaround is the current attorney general, John Ashcroft. In his 2000 senatorial campaign, he attacked his Democratic opponent for “standing with the producers of pornography and Hollywood’s worst trash” by accepting a $2,000 contribution from Christie Hefner, the chief executive of Playboy. You no longer hear Mr. Ashcroft, or anyone in the Bush administration, complaining about far larger political contributions from News Corporation and Rupert Murdoch, AOL Time Warner, Viacom or Marriott, to name just some of those who stand with the producers of pornography by either making their own soft-core variants or taking a cut when porn-industry videos are beamed through cable and satellite into hotels and homes.

The Discussion: 3 Comments

I’m no prude — far from it — but it does seem odd that the man whose TV company produces such fare as Temptation Island and Paradise Hotel (both of which consist essentially of beautiful young people having lots of very un-Biblical sex) should be such a major sponsor of the conservative revolution. (I was going to say “cultural revolution,” but I wouldn’t want to be misinterpreted or anything…)

July 27, 2003 @ 10:27 am | Comment

I presume you’re referring to RM. He’s been a textbook case study of hypocrisy in this regard for years, bankrolling far-right causes and raking in billions from schlock TV and bordering-on-porn tabloids.

July 27, 2003 @ 12:09 pm | Comment

i collect woodland style art of the north american indians

September 8, 2003 @ 7:54 pm | Comment

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