Yesterday, I head the following interchange on Fox FM. It was in regard to a segment they call 'Gotcha' where people are set up and harrassed, only to be told at the end it was all a setup to publically humiliate them.

PRESENTER "Well.. we now have even CHIDREN getting in on the Gotcha segments"

"lets goto a caller and see how it worked"

CALLER "Yes...my 2 year old has really got into the swing of it.. now he wanders around saying 'I am a w_anker' "

You would have had to hear the full interchange to gain a proper sense of just how unbelievably pEurile,sick and degrading this whole thing was. The undermining effect is staggering. Not just the mentality which sees 2 yr old children calling themselves 'W_ankers' but the value of respecting others.. where people are called and promised $20,000 if they are selected to star in a promotional video.. but they have to give the presenter a 'sense of their voice' first to see if they are suitable. The caller is told they are very good looking etc prior to this.

The presenter then gives the caller some words to say which are supposed to be in Korean. "Eye.. Yumma...Wang....Ker"

Then they called hotels while impersonating "Bachelor of the Year" wasting staff time by trying to gain financial concessions if they visit the hotel.

The whole collective impact of the show was this:

"It just does not matter how much you degrage, humilate, annoy or harrass people...if it makes 'good radio' then its cool"

I can almost hear the varied responses, specially from the post modernists "But thats just your opinion".

Indeed it is. But the very potential for such a response demonstrates my point. If we have to attribute every statement on moral values to 'thats your opinion' we have actually arrived at the very bottom, and along with the opportunistic bottom feeders at Fox FM we will emerge covered in the stinking slime and mud of our own cultural suicide.

For once I actually agree with you Boaz,

I gave up listening to such radio stations long ago. Just as I now steer clear of commercial TV stations which contain just as much rubbish.

However, I don’t see the problem as a “morality” issue. More as one of who controls the media and why do they insist on promoting such puerile nonsense.

Bread and circuses.

Dear Tao...ur quite right, it does indeed get back to those who control the media.

My major problem with relative morality is that we all know our own selves. We know what is the line of least resistance.. we all know its sex and thats why it sells. In a way its like kicking a bloke when he is down. Or..offering food to a starving person. They don't care where it came from, they just know it will satisfy a craving.

The worst thing is, the sex or voyeristic thrill they promote is not the fulfilling kind, but the opportunistic, selfish, momentary, existential kind. Then these teenagers become PARENTS... what will they inculcate into their children ?

If one listens closely (heaven forbid) to most of this garbage, and scratch beneath the surface, its an overall message of 'permissiveness'.

Those who control the media.. the directors and shareholders, have identified a particular demographic, then the most likely basis on which to advance their cause, product promotion etc..and what 'values' to hook or link this to.

So, in promoting the values, they are promoting the products and shareholder value....but at what social cost ? Like termites eat everything but the paint.. it 'looks' normal, but then you just push it and it crumbles into dust.

I actually mean't to add a biblical perspective to my last post but ran out of room. I'm sure you can agree with the sentiments expressed even if you may not accept the underlying foundation (yet :)
From Pauls letter to the Philippians Chapter 4

[Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.]

Oh that we all could say such things about our own lives. Paul was certainly a hero of the faith.

Agree that’s puerile and unedifying, Boaz, but I reckon you’ve missed the real exemplars of the maxim:

"It just does not matter how much you degrade, humiliate, annoy or harass people...if it makes 'good radio' then its cool"

I’m thinking certain commercial talkback radio shock jocks.

I have to agree Snout... and to the extent that the likes of Alan Jones and company do this, it diminishes us all.

During the Cronulla period, I would much rather have heard about or read about a much less antagonistic and 'messianic' approach by such as he and ilk. If they did it purely out of true concern rather than salivating at the ratings bonanza, I'd be less cynical. But 'commercial' radio is just that..without 'ratings' ur dead.

I think the Rally would have gone ahead with big numbers even without Alan's method, and perhaps even there would have been less of the loony fringe who maybe just maybe were pushed over the edge toward violent confrontation by his method of commentary.

I am a great believer in the ability of truth to stand by itself. Even on the 'anti Islam' sites, they would do well to eject 80% of the emotive adjectives and simply plead the case on the evidence.

I feel like peuking each time I walk into a servo these days with the abundant array of outright pornography, the degrading filth which portrays women as sex objects, often sold by female servo attendants I guess.. each time we have to look aside from the filth we are selling, we are further hardened in our conciences.

I would love to have someone from the late 50s go for a wander around our current 'enlightened/liberal' society and voice a few opinions.
cheers

Boaz:

"I think the Rally would have gone ahead with big numbers even without Alan's method, and perhaps even there would have been less of the loony fringe who maybe just maybe were pushed over the edge toward violent confrontation by his method of commentary."

As I recall, wasn't Boaz gleefully cheering the "loony fringe" on during the Cronulla riots via his comments on On Line Opinion?

I agree with Tao - don't listen to such garbage on the radio if it offends you. You've noted yourself that they depend on ratings, and if enough listeners switch off, the radio station will amend its programming accordingly.

IMHO it has very little to do with "morality", and much to do with the marketing of objectionable ideas.