Teaching Our Children

It depends on what we teach them

What are we teaching our children when commercials often disrespect parents or parents disrespect children?  Does it matter when a commercial has a family on vacation and mom and daughter are in the hot tub and dad comes in to join them and his daughter tells him he is not welcome.  Even worse, dad sadly walks away.

Or in another commercial parents sell their children's graduation moment on stage to instead carry a product advertisement, ignoring the significance of their child's achievement for some advertising cash.  

Ok, I know they are jokes, but do these advertisements and other "jokes" like them softly debase the subjects of the joke?  

Humor and attracting attention seem bound to encourage the next example a step further.  In 1988, Cher shocked the world with her sheer Rob Mackie creation at the Oscars. Today see through fabrics, plunging necklines, and thigh-hi slits are just part of the show.  The influence is not restricted to movie stars.  Skimpy beach wear just about eliminates whatever secrets that are left.  

The right to wear blue jeans to school was a special privilege for game days in the beginning, and jeans are still popular, but today it must take far less fabric to make the skintight Levis.

It is not just fashion that has changed the examples we show our children.  Part of my education as I neared graduation from law school was a lecture on maintaining the dignity of the profession.  One rule I clearly recall was the prohibition of advertising.  We were told that sending a respectful Christmas card, thanking the client for entrusting the firm with their case was forbidden.  Lawyers were not to solicit business.  Their reputations were to be the source of their business, through business cards and directory listings.  However, in 1977 the Supreme Court ruled that banning truthful advertising violated constitutional rights.  Unfortunately, some law firms now flood the television with tacky, attention-grabbing ads. 

How Americans get their news has always been complicated, the overriding importance of freedom of the press having restricted federal laws requiring Official correction.  The responsibility of correcting errors has depended on the professionalism of journalists and their ethical coeds.  The rise of internet journalism challenges the ethical standards, and today research is indicating that only a small percentage of errors are actually formally corrected.  

Recently, the long, interrupted travel around the Moon brought crowds to watch the take-off.  A television newscaster, wanting to show viewers the crowd's excitement, chose a young boy.  When the microphone was extended to the boy, he yelled excitingly "We're going to the --expletive-- Moon."  In a crowd of excited people crying and hugging one another, this news man chose a boy eager to repeat his vulgar word.  This is how we teach our children.