Parents’ Television Council Offers a Five-Year Comparison of Foul Language on TV.

Harshness and Frequency of Profanity on the Rise

LOS ANGELES (November 9, 2010) – The Parents Television Council™ has documented a sharp rise in the frequency and harshness of profanity being used on prime-time broadcast television in a special comparative analysis of the fall 2010 and 2005 seasons. The PTC’s report entitled “Habitat for Profanity: Broadcast TV’s Sharp Increase in Foul Language” documents a 69.3 percent increase in just the past five years. The greatest increase in harsh profanity occurred during the 8:00 pm ET slot traditionally known as the family hour and the 9:00 pm ET hour. Click here to view the full analysis.

“After the Second Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the FCC’s congressionally-mandated authority to enforce the broadcast decency law, industry and media pundits predicted a sharp increase in the amount of profanity on television. Sadly, they were correct,” said PTC President Tim Winter… 

Read the whole PTC article here.

This reminded me of two things. First, sometime ago I read an aticle in a magazine that suggested civility in society started its downward trend when the Catholic Mass went from formalized ritual to informal gathering. The writer cited the almost total absence of bowing –which had been ubiquitous in the old Mass– in the new Mass.

Second, could the use of common language and phrasing in the new rite have contributed to the increased general roughness of our public discourse. Could the new Mass translation help with that problem?

As the Liturgy goes so goes the world.

Tags: Liturgy

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