>From: "Carl Remick"
> Nope, no argument here -- American life is coarse beyond description.
> However, I put 100 percent of the blame on capitalism. It's the plutocrats
> who've expunged the grace, style and wit from this society in their
> incessant efforts to turn everything possible into a commodity.
>
> Carl
>
I concur. In the past this vulgairty has been mitigated in other Western capitalist societies with a stronger social democratic tradition and a decent public broadcasting system.
Joseph
Well, I suppose someone should pipe up for "vulgar" expression. I mean, what exactly are we talking about here? Rap? Death metal? Kittens in jars? Murray's piece has been written a thousand times before by other cultural reactionaries, from those who railed against ragtime music and early jazz to those who bewailed the "dark" and "violent" influence of film noir in the 1940s to those in Congress who attacked comic books in the 1950s. Every generation sees something vulgar in the culture, and I'm sure in 2035 there'll be a form of dress or music that will rattle the elders of that time. Does this mean that there is *no* vulgarity in the current scene? Of course not. There's all manner of crap and trash to choose from. But for Murray to go on about tatoos and nose rings (how very lower class) is really quite ridiculous.
DP
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