Down in the moral abyss

Friday 3rd July 2009, 2:59PM BST.

From Tim Hargreaves.
I AM a some time Jersey resident who has spent the last 40 years in Western Australia. Every year I get back to Jersey I notice the increasing deterioration of the moral fabric of British society.

The following incident served to show me it isn’t just the obvious categories who compete to drag Britons down into a moral abyss, eg, the destitute institutional church, crooked politicians, the gutter press and the BBC with its pornographic ‘entertainment’ – to mention but some – but elements of the supposedly respectable shopkeeping and business middle class.

The incident in question went as follows: I was in a general store when from outside came noisy shouts and hooliganism of half a dozen youths. The two girls in their midst were every bit as vocal with their four-letter words and bizarre hair-dos and bits of metal in their noses and eyelids.

‘That’s today’s youth for you,’ said the shopkeeper. ‘Oh, yes,’ I replied, looking at the various newspapers on display, ‘and so who is responsible for this?’

I gestured at one paper whose front page depicted an almost naked woman leaning forward in what was an obscene pose. She might as well have not been wearing underwear. The headline said something about one woman kissing another woman’s boobs.

I said words to the effect of ‘Do you think this sort of stuff sets much of an example for our youth?’ The shopkeepers gave an uncomfortable half laugh and said, ‘I suppose it doesn’t really, does it?’

‘So tell me,’ I said, ‘are you obliged to be a party to conveying that message to society which depicts women as some sort of tawdry, cheap sex object? Hardly enabling?’

He again laughed in an uncomfortable manner and said that he was obliged to carry every publication the distributors sent him. I wondered if he would have so readily obliged the distributors if it had been his own wife or daughter involved.

Suffice to say there are now pressure groups in Australia who have withdrawn advertising support and are boycotting retail outlets who carry magazines, newspapers and literature depicting women in a degrading manner.
Les Huriaux,
St Ouen.

1
Cristina McDowall

July 4, 2009 at 4:51 pm

I quite agree, but the newspaper seller had no choice. If he didn’t display the tabloids (and, increasingly, the broadsheets) with these pictures, he would have been in breach of his contract with the distribution company and would not have any magazines or papers to sell. It’s not like Jersey has a choice of distributors!

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2
matt74

July 6, 2009 at 7:19 pm

Yes, the blame for the ‘Yoof’ does not lie squarely on their shoulders. There are all sorts of contributing factors which permeate into all aspects of modern life. Discipline, censorship, restricted opening-hours, all play their part. When all these were in place the problem was far less – but modern technology also has it’s impact.

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3
Nellie Macon

July 8, 2009 at 1:51 pm

Good letter Tim and very sad, isn’t it? The shopkeeper obviously isn’t to blame in this instance – but it’s true that we are “hardening” our children very early to unhealthy conceptions. The violence on TV, video games etc has got to have a bad effect on everyone as it depicts it as being “normal” and pornography surrounds us, which in turn breeds disrespect for women.

On the other hand, when you see SOME of the young girls’ behaviour nowadays, they’re actually louder, ruder and coarser than the boys. What happened to being a “young lady” and self-respect?

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4
joker

July 9, 2009 at 1:28 pm

Yes – personally I’d like to go back to the days of extreme censorship where no one talked about sex, drugs, rock and roll and pretended it didn’t exist and continued to repress themselves…except behind closed doors of course.

Yes back in the good ol’ days there were no gangs of youth, violence or drunkenness back then. All was sweet and rosy. Damned media has ruined it for us all; I mean who wants freedom of speech – like to know that UK Ministers are ripping people off? Who wants the freedom to decide between the dross and the quality? Personally I’m too stupid to tell the difference – better a government official tell me I say! Yes much better we get some propaganda storey from our government run media to report everything is marvellous!

Clearly we’re all too easily influenced and should be shut away until we’re 21 before being exposed to real life problems. Good old British attitude of sweeping issues under the carpet and maintaining that stiff upper lip never caused any harm… well apart from the inconvenient 1.5 million casualties at the Somme.

I’m off to sit behind my sofa and watch 1960′s Doctor Who to get my kicks of being scared out of my pants! It’s real you know!

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5
Reg Le Sueur

July 9, 2009 at 4:38 pm

Yes things can appear bad, but this is partly because of ease of modern communication, so we all get to hear about the unsavoury things that go on.
In the “respectable” moral Victorian era there was worse city violence, infanticide, septic amateur abortions, child sex abuse and prostitution far more than now, continuous jingoistic wars, unlike todays “careful” and almost “guilty” ones. Discipline and law and order need to be enforced to reduce violence and vandalism. I don’t think puritanical anti-sex attacks on pornography will solve anything.

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6
JULIE

July 9, 2009 at 8:02 pm

I am all for freedom of speech but what has that got to do with smutty pictures on the front of so called newspapers Joker (comment 4)? These publications are obviously bought by people who want a comic to look at and who find the cavortings of z list celebrities interesting reading which is how they remain in print.But I feel sorry for parents trying to explain such images to young curious children.All a bit sad that the British press has sunk to such a low.

Nellie (comment 3)Yes I agree some of the girls are worse than the boys but hardly surprising when you look at the role models on offer.

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7
joker

July 10, 2009 at 2:10 pm

Julie
Life is about compromise and taking the rough with the smooth. Freedom is compromise and overarching – that is it wouldn’t be true freedom if only high brow news or magazines etc were printed – you see my point? Personally I’m not interested in such garbage but appreciate that people should have the choice. If you go down the road of censorship where do you draw the line? What is gratuitous and what isn’t? Some of the most repressed countries in the world are also the most violent where life is very cheap and superstition rules – says a lot for censorship.

You feel sorry for parents? Surely that’s part of the job of being a responsible parent – explaining why items like this are available and not sweeping sex etc under the carpet like it is bad and doesn’t exist? Teach children why it is dross – let them learn. Children today learn more about life in their first 16 years then their grand parents did all their lives – especially women who were subject to severe repression in a male dominated society.

Thank you R L S for dispelling that age old myth that the grass was greener yesteryear in a more controlled manner. Too many people confuse nostalgia with fact and the ability to distinguish deteriorates with age.

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8
JULIE

July 10, 2009 at 8:29 pm

Joker- I am pleased that we share the opinion that these publications are garbage!I am not advocating that only high brow newspapers or magazines are in print as I do realise that not everyone is in to reading such things but I think that to have pictures such as the one described by Tim in his letter on front pages is just not appropriate.Are there ever pictures of naked men in provocative poses on front pages by the way and if not why not?

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