America's Broken Compass

I remember a time when Mothers would bust a kid's butt if they didn't help the neighbor lady carry her groceries into her house, or step in when a child was getting picked on by another group of kids. This kind of moral development was mirrored in the shows that we saw on television: "Leave it to Beaver," "Happy Days," and "The Rifleman," just to name a few. Good character stood for something and a handshake deal was worth more than a piece of paper. During this time, justice WAS a part of our legal system and honesty , fair judgment plus morals , prevailed.

We hear the term "Moral Compass" a lot, but do the youth today really know what it means? They are steered by a mass media presence that believes in ratings and shock value. I know that free speech is protected by the constitution and I am not trying to trample on those rights. It is a parent's job to conduct the censorship in the home and make sure that the programming that their child is viewing will be age appropriate. The problem with this system is that parents are not in the home or they just don't care. We are raising a society of juveniles that have access to shows like, "Jersey Shore," "The Bad Girls Club" and "Rock of Love," the parents are in their room or gone and Brett Michaels is teaching their child how to have sex with numerous whores. Children have broadband phones at ten years old and access everything on You Tube with the touch of a button! We have thirteen year old girls who have Snooki for a role model and believe that sleeping around, drinking alcohol excessively and being arrested, is standard behavior. Our young men are growing up with the idea that multiple sex partners are okay and that treating women like trash is the norm. Granted, these shows are popular in homes that have little or no parental guidance to steer the child in another direction, so essentially they are being raised by what they see in the media. The media does not feel a sense of responsibility so they will do nothing to stop the insanity...they have great ratings and that is all they care about.

It isn't hard to see why the media airs this kind of programming, just look at our daily news reports. We have wars going on, world hunger, nuclear threats, global environmental destruction and yet Lindsay Lohan and her drug problem is the top story! TEEN MOMS have donned the covers of a major print publication for months now, which only glorifies the idea of having a baby at fourteen. Where is the cover about our Nation's Honor Students or Top Science Fair Winners? I guess that isn't as interesting as sleeping around, becoming pregnant and placing a HUGE burden on your parent's life.

I have done the research and seen the statistics; it honestly scared the hell out of me! The Nation's High School drop out rate is staggering, teen Mother's are on the rise, adolescent rapes and murders are up and youth suicides are at an all time high, yet the worst statistic out there, is how low the 4.0 graduation rate has sunk. This is the generation that will be leading our Nation? They can't read, write, use proper grammar, spell or add without the help of their cell phone calculator...but they can work a Wii Remote and eat junk food all day. (This leads to the juvenile obesity rate surge.)

Commonsense and strong priorities are going to have to come into play. The world around us is waiting for the crumbling mass of idiots that will be in charge one day. They see what we have allowed our media to do and they love it. We are self destructing and it is a matter of time before we have lost our country. Drugs are a mainstream part of US society, vulgar behavior is accepted and crime is not a real issue...as long as you can get away with it. It will be an easy take over by our enemies, as we are rolling out the red carpet for them.

This is the time for our country to come together and do what is right for the next generation. MORALS , must be returned to our society! Let the media air what they want; I am not calling for a ban on programming...just a change of direction. It is our demands that determine what the media places in front of us. It is our choices that govern their programming. If we raise the bar and demand intelligent, entertaining television, then it will happen. Granted that mass media is everywhere, (on our phones, ipods, computers etc...) but the message will be the same...No More Destructive Programming!

I grew up in the eighties, rocked out to Heavy Metal (and still do...I am even a Poison Fan) but the key words in that sentence are...I grew up. As an adult I know how to receive the content in front of me. As a teenager, I was heavily influenced and made a lot of stupid mistakes. I was not given a strong moral compass by my parents and I paid the price heavily, as life went on.

"It takes a village to raise a child." The American society must take responsibility for their youth and give them a moral compass that will work throughout their lives. It sounds out dated, but discipline and love are the keys. This Nation can continue being the greatest Nation in the world...or we will all be speaking another language in the near future. It is in the hands of our future leaders ...Do you really believe that they are ready?