American Beat: A Media Miss

This is not, of course, limited to the political arena. Our media is notorious for missing the forest of root causes because all the trees of flashy expediency are in the way. That explains why we have weeklong debates about how a 1.5-second flash of Janet Jackson's breast shows that our society's moral fiber has collapsed, yet we never actually debate that a culture where pornography is one of the biggest selling products might actually want it that way. And in the debate over gay marriage, we get lots of noise about how our society will further degrade if gays are allowed to wed, but we're quick to ignore that virtually all of the cultural forces that are supposedly degrading our society--whether it's the mindless violence of video games, the sexualizing of our pre-teens or the corrosive bile of Eminem--is solely the creation of heterosexuals for heterosexuals. You could win a debate by arguing that the problem with our society is straight people, not gay people. Of course, that's another debate we never have.

So do yourself a favor this campaign season. Don't look for the 1.5-second flash of the destroyed World Trade Center. Look for what's being hidden behind it.

Gersh Kuntzman is also Brooklyn bureau chief for The New York Post. His website is at http://www.gersh.tv

© 2004