One source of vulgarity

WE now seem to be swimming in an ocean of vulgarity.

Wherever we go, all our senses are bombarded with various stimuli of such crude and unwelcome form of humor and wit.

There seems to be no escaping. You turn on the TV, it's all there. You read the newspapers, not necessarily the shameless tabloids, it's there. The radio and the billboards clutter with it.

In my locality, there is a radio station purportedly enlightening barrio people on human sexuality. It's actually dishing out titillating and suggestive info and sex dramas, destroying the natural innocence of countless people.

No wonder, I get the impression many young people nowadays think masturbation and premarital sex, for example, are just okay, they're just part of growing up and loving. The moral qualification of the acts is never mentioned.

I have no doubt that these are a clearly contributory factor to the rising incidence of rapes and other sex crimes even in remote mountain villages.

Of course, recently we learn about the suspension of people like Willie Revillame, John Estrada, Rosanna Roces from their shows. From what I could gather from the papers, what they did were actually just a drop in the ocean compared with those done in other shows.

Some songs, otherwise unprintable, are having a market day in the airwaves. I remember that a certain Andrew E has at least one such vulgar and obscene song.

One parent reported that he overheard a DJ in a radio station his young kid was listening to, asking his listeners to tell him via cellular-phone text message the answer to this question: What name would you like to have if you happen to be a porn star? Big deal!

Who's in charge? Who's supposed to do the watching and the cleaning of our media environment? Please, let's not mouth that stupid line that we are just being prudish by expressing this concern.

We have every reason to hate prudishness as much as we should hate vulgarity and obscenity.

Everyone should be concerned. Relevant government agencies as well as nongovernmental organizations should keep close watch of developments in our society.

Church and other religious organizations, as well as individual citizens, should immediately react when some questionable acts of artists so-called creativity and spontaneity come to public attention.

What's the point, for example, of advertising a feminine napkin as a substitute for a band-aid to be used by a boyfriend for his scratches in the head? You have to be sick in the head to appreciate the storyline.

Humor need not be brown, much less green. These types are truly cheap, and debasing, especially if used to prop up a major project. They indicate if not immaturity then decadence.

They are nothing less than thoughtless outbursts of spontaneity without giving due attention to what is objectively good and wholesome to all. They are terribly self-centered, truly inhuman! The saddest part is that many do not realize it, their consciences being quite deformed.

There should be wit and humor more fit for human public consumption.

Actually, I feel that all this deteriorating process of our media could be one effect of the libertarian virus invading our country today. Yes, there seems to be a massive and organized campaign to discredit Christian morality and Catholic Church doctrine with their false appeal for freedom, truth and justice.

They are quick to point out past mistakes or misbehavior committed by some Catholic Church officials to insinuate that their ideas are the right ones. They attribute the imperfections of the times to the church without giving due consideration to historical and cultural factors. A devil's trick, of course.

I now read in the papers feature articles systematically marketed in the media that seek to clarify issues. They end up questioning Christian principles and morals. They laugh at prayer and sacrifices. They ridicule the sacraments. They consider refinement and good manners stupid.

We have to be extremely careful with this phenomenon. They can present themselves as the enlightened victims of supposedly past unfair and erroneous doctrine and practices. Thus, they can easily win sympathy.

They usually talk about gender equality or inequality, women's liberation, population control, family planning, reproductive health, sex education, safe sex, and other supposedly progressive concepts.

This development, I believe, poisons the atmosphere and prepares the way for vulgarity and obscenity to sprout quite easily and proliferate. Just look at their proponents in the media. Modesty and self-restraint are not in their vocabulary. They glory in what should be their shame.