It its best, American popular culture possesses a vitality that belies the facile criticisms of both Right and Left. At its worst--as in Jerry Springer´s daytime talk show, in which private misery and family dysfunction become public spectacle, a cockfight with psyches instead of roosters--popular culture seems to pose incalculable risks to what used to be called public morality.

In discussing both the vitality and the danger, we keep returning to the same dispiriting clichés. There´s more sex and violence than ever, yet sex and violence sell. Young people are being exposed to material that would have shocked their grandparents, yet there seems no way to protect them from it. We call for positive programs, yet our mass obsessions--murder trials, political scandals--focus almost entirely on the negative. Not surprisingly, we throw up our hands.

To continue reading, please click Download PDF, above.