Whatever Happened To Class?

(From the Janesville Messenger, 11-4-07)

At the dry cleaners the other day, I was parked next to a pickup truck, one of those huge beasts that dwarfs all the other vehicles around it.

What I found astonishing, however, was not the pure size of this vehicle, but the message that was plastered on the cab’s back window for all followers to read. It was a parody of the “Harley-Davidson Motor Cycles” logo that said “Highly Dangerous Mother (expletive).” You can easily guess what the expletive was.

My first thought was to wonder if this vehicle gets driven to church, or to elementary school to pick up a first grader. My second thought was to wonder when obscenity laws were changed so that anyone could publicly display the F-word in letters larger than license plate numerals.

So whatever happened to dignity in America? Or class?

I realize that I’m going to make myself look like a prude or a snob in writing this column. Those who know me know I am anything but. I believe that off-color jokes or R-rated humor have a time and a place. The back of a vehicle driven on public roads isn’t one of them.

I’m glad my kids are older now, so I don’t have to explain to a 7-year-old what “Eats Chevys, S---ts Dodges” means. Or why Calvin from “Calvin and Hobbes” is urinating on a Bears helmet. Or why that’s the most profound thought some people can express.

Subtlety is a lost art. Coarseness rules. We’re so insistent on making whatever our point is, that we feel we need to slap someone across the face with it.

Rewinding back to my comment about going to church, it appears even church isn’t immune from inappropriate public sentiments. I went with my family to the Holy Hill Shrine near Hubertus recently, on a gorgeous day in which the fall colors made this beautiful place look even more amazing. The grounds were packed with people, most of whom showed the proper respect for a religious area. But not everyone was with the program, like the pair of women who looked like they were dressed for their next shift at the Sugar Shack. Then there was the young man wearing a shirt advertising Trojan condoms. Ironically, he was wearing this at a Catholic shrine. I also saw a guy in church wearing a Michael Vick jersey. I don’t think he was there to pray for Vick’s redemption.

Maybe people just don’t realize what’s appropriate and what’s not anymore. The definition of obscenity has been erased. The mass media has undeniably had a lot of influence in that respect.

When cable television first started airing edgier fare, it was no big deal. Like going to an R movie, you paid for the privilege. But now, tired of losing audience, free television and radio have decided to “catch up.” I always watched “NYPD Blue” but had to make sure my kids weren’t still awake at 9:55 because you could always count on the last scene involving entangled naked bodies. And just try to find a comedy where the jokes aren’t sexual in nature. The thinking seems to be, if it’s not dirty, it’s not funny. Ironically, you now have to get cable just to find programming that your children can watch.

In 1961, FCC chairman Newton Minow derided television as a “vast wasteland.” If he thought that then, what must he think now?

The biggest problem is that Hollywood doesn’t think anyone will watch a show that doesn’t have shock value, whether it’s in the humor or the violence. And it’s a shame.

When John Ratzenberger (who played Cliff on the classic comedy “Cheers”) appeared at the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce dinner earlier this year, I had an opportunity to speak with him about what has happened to television since that show went off the air. Ratzenberger made a very insightful comment. He said that today’s shows are being written by the first generation of writers brought up on television, not on literature. It made sense; inbreeding yields disastrous results.

All one can hope is that the pendulum will swing back at some point, and America will regain some dignity. Until then, the top story on your network newscasts will continue to be the latest Britney Spears sighting.