Decreasing Morals in television

I walked into my living room, plopped down on the couch and picked up my television remote. When I turned on the television I arrived just in time to witness a man being violently shot in the head as a product of a drive by shooting. To my dissatisfaction, I quickly changed the channel to the supposedly child friendly Cartoon Network to view a more decent program. Unfortunately, not even Cartoon Network could save me from the hideous and gruesome truth of the society need for violence. The creatures on the cartoon steadily continued shooting futuristic weaponry and promoting acts of vandalism. Whatever happened to morality and values in television? Taking a look back in time I realize violence in the media appears much more evident than it did fifty years ago.

Consider sitcoms: Strong, wholesome family values once promoted in past shows such as Leave it to Beaver and Andy Griffith have corrupted as well as evolved into the dysfunctional and laissez-faire family values of today.

Family watching television, c. 1958

Beavis and Butt-head Do America

Joe Millionaire

Many television shows glamorize sexual promiscuity plus make drug usage appear acceptable in society. Movie characters as well as the stars that portray them thumb their noses at authority and think that they remain above the parameters of the law. On any given weeknight a person can tune into the immoral antics of reality television in addition to the tasteless sitcoms and dramas that occupy their given timeslot. Whether portraying the scantily clad Paris Hilton or the rubbishy and furthermore overrated stars of the OC, it seems that the Fox and ABC networks thrive to achieve a PG-13 rated "Girls Gone Wild" feeling to their programs. Television has lost it's flair for wholesome entertainment and given into the pressures of an ever changing world that boldly proclaims Less is more! These days watching...