Jewish World Review Sept. 19, 2000/ 18 Elul, 5760
Kathleen Parker
It's not subliminal: Hypocrisy
of moral outrage is obvious
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
EIGHT WEEKS before the presidential election, the pivotal
issue seems reduced to this: Which candidate can be the
more morally outraged and, therefore, the more moral
man?
The contest was almost over before it began when Al
"Do-Right" Gore selected Joe "Kum-ba-Yah"
Lieberman as his running mate. If the Republicans can
be accused of flashing the word "RATS" in a television
commercial criticizing Gore's prescription-drug plan, the
DemocRATS (sorry, it's the keyboard) haven't been
exactly coy about invoking God at every possible turn.
Too bad Kum-ba-Yah's surname isn't something like
Kogod. One can only whimper at the missed subliminal
opportunity for bumper-sticker America: "Put KoGOD
in the White House."
Even so, new opportunities abound both for moral
outrage and subliminal messaging. The latest outrage is
the sudden realization that Hollywood, as well as the
recording and video-game industries, has been targeting
children in advertising for goods that should be off-limits
to children.
The study, released last week by the Federal Trade
Commission, found that the movie/recording/video
industries aren't abiding by their own rules. The movie
industry, for example, routinely markets movies to
children that the industry itself has deemed inappropriate
for young viewers.
Of course, all half-awake parents in America already
knew this and long ago exhausted their lifetime supply of
moral outrage. Those same parents also figured out that
the burden of protecting their children falls to them and
have managed with words to this effect: "No."
But Washington is always slow to realize what everyone
else knows, and bureaucRATS (darn keyboard) need
an official study before they can draw a conclusion that,
were it physically manifest, would be sufficiently large to
impose nuclear winter on Capitol Hill.
As the parent of a nearly-grown child, having spent
years dodging Hollywood's cultural snipers, I have a
moral outrage that has devolved from a brow-singeing
inferno to smoldering cynicism. But my cynicism isn't
directed so much toward Hollywood, whose tactics and
motives are clearly understood, but toward politicians
who grasp a well-timed study for quick
subliminal-advertising capital rather than for substantive
moral meaning.
Surely, no one believes that the release of the FTC
report precisely eight weeks before the election was
serendipitous. Did Do-Right have a little advance notice,
perhaps, in order to issue his tough-guy, three-pronged
response?
Although Bush's impromptu reaction was vaguely
philosophical (we have to do a better job of protecting
children from violence, beginning with more parental
education and supervision), Do-Good came out firing
both barrels:
"You got six months to do right, Hol'wood, and then
ah'm comin' to gitcha." Legislation to control advertising
in America?
Uh-huh. Meanwhile, keep those donations coming, and
I'm sure we can work something out.
Less subliminal, meanwhile, are the news-media
messages about what we ought to think about the
candidates. Newspaper content and headlines make the
Republican RAT smell like a springtime potpourri. On
the same day that everyone reported Al Gore's favorite
book (The Bible), poor George Du(h)bya was being
forced to deny that his mispronunciations and verbal
bungling are owing to dyslexia that somebody
somewhere thinks he might suffer.
Note to working families: Never eat at a restaurant
named "Mom's," and never vote for a politician who
says that "The Bible" is his favorite book. OK, OK:
Never vote for a politician who says Jesus Christ is his
favorite philosopher.
Maybe the first presidential debate should be a round of
Bible Jeopardy, just to see who has the better rigging
for moral outrage. No hints from
Kum-ba-Yah.
JWR contributor Kathleen Parker can be reached by clicking here.
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©1999, Tribune Media Services
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