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. . . shame. An individual incapable of shame and embarrassment is probably incapable
of the governance of the self. A public incapable of shame and embarrassment about
public vulgarity is unsuited to self-government.
There is an upward ratchet effect in the coarsening of populations. Today's
12-year-olds cannot
The social atmosphere is heavily dosed with sexuality, from the selling of blue
jeans to the entertaining of prime time television audiences. Thus it is perhaps
reasonable to have feelings of fatalism. Perhaps societies, like rivers, run naturally
downhill. Perhaps the coarsening of a public is irreversible, especially when the
coarsening concerns a powerful and pleasurable appetite such as sex. But it is
demonstrably not true that societies cannot move away from coarseness toward delicacy
of feeling.
In the first half of the 18th century, the dawn of the Age of Reason, a form of
English merriment on Guy Fawkes nights was to burn an effigy of the Pope. The
belly of the effigy was filled with cats whose howls of agony in the flames were
supposed to represent the voice of the devil emanating from the Catholic Church.
That kind of cruelty to animals is, by today's standards, obscene. Sensibilities can
change for the better. So fatalism is wrong and the porn rock fight is worth fighting.
Mass culture, and especially music, matters. Nothing is more striking to a young
parent than the pull of popular culture on even 8- and 4-year-olds. And perhaps
good music can make good values more adhesive to children.
People can reasonably argue about what is the second-finest work of
[From the Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 23, 1985]
For years, parents have routinely shouted "Turn the music down!" over the blast
of teen-agers' records.
Recently a group of parents, many of whom grew up to the rock beat themselves,
decided to turn the music up and listen carefully.
What they heard in the lyrics, saw on album covers, and watched on rock videos
alarmed them. They joined forces and in only a few months have managed to shake,
rattle, and roll the rock-music industry. Their goal is a rating system for records
and videos similar to the G, PG, R, or X now applied to movies.
This group, which includes wives of some of the most powerful men in Washington,
is getting action. They charge some popular songs, which endorse violence,
bestiality, and even incest, are blatant pornography.
"A line of decency has been crossed," says Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary
James A. Baker III, and a co-founder last May of the Parents' Music Resource
Center (PMRC).
Critics concede that lyrics about sex and drugs are not new; such themes were
found in the songs of Cole Porter, Billie Holiday, and the Beatles.
The difference today, say PMRC members, is in degree and in the target audience.
Madonna who is seductively posed on the cover of her album "Like a Virgin," wearing
a belt buckle carrying the words "Boy Toy," attracts mostly preteen fans.
The double-entendres of the 1960s and '70s have given way to graphic descriptions
of sex and violence. Brutality to women and satanic worship are common themes.
PMRC members concede that such music is only a small part of the rock scene.
Mary Elizabeth (Tipper) Gore, wife of Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D) of Tennessee and a
founder of PMRC observes, '1 love rock music; I still am a consumer of it." But she
says that some current rock depicts "sadomasochism, killing, raping, as an apparently
normal way to relate to women."
PMRC is taking its message to the public. Members are appearing on television
talk shows and presenting copies of explicit lyrics to top music executives.
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