Smut in the halls of power

Activist filmmaker Robert Greenwald, whose Brave New Films was behind the anti-Fox News documentary "Outfoxed," recently unleashed a new salvo at Uncle Rupert's fascist flagship. Turns out those stalwart defenders of humble American values have an inveterate affinity for softcore porn (video possibly not work-safe, if applicable). It's all in the name of good journalism, of course. Bill O'Reilly just wants you to be aware of all that scandalous behavior (ohhhh!) that those evil, evil secularists (ohhhhhh!) are trying to foist on your innocent children (wheeze).

This shouldn't come as much of a surprise. In fact, it's basically what you'd expect according to the laws of Puritans and Pornographers, the symbiotic cycle of outrage required to sustain each and who, as a result, tend to be represented by the same interests. An industry that is fueled by moral outrage needs something to perpetually provide the energy, and an industry relying on the allure of transgression needs someone to maintain that taboo. I've recently re-read Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas?, where he sits flummoxed at our Moral Guardians unwillingness to confront the mainstream merchants of sleaze driven by free-market capitalism while trying to pin down an elusive "liberal elite" who secretly control all of the entertainment world. And why should they? That would be self-indictment! (Not to mention bad for business.)

Let me take a moment to invoke Orwell again. You may remember in 1984 that, while the skin magazines were produced by the Party itself, they were strictly forbidden for Party members.. They were for proles only. This isn't a perfectly similar situation, but it is analogous, particularly when you consider the kinds of stories much of the Fox-smut is attached to.

I think there is another angle at work here among the kind of audience Fox typically attracts. I'm talking about the kind of conventionalist suburban professional who benefits politically from the Moral Guardians (and indeed may outwardly be one himself) but who is a little bit embarrassed by their prudery at times. After all, he likes to let his pants down after a hard day running over the American worker as much as the next shlub. I use the male term purposefully, since I suspect these people are almost universally men, and their compromises with the moral compass always have to do with sex. The rules for them can be bent, among other things. And as bad as he thinks those scolding Sunday-school teachers may be, he's sure the hippies are worse.

I'm fond of the saying that there's a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning. It's no longer a surprise to anyone that the anchors of our moral code are the ones frequently found violating it. Bill O'Reilly himself is a famous example, settling a sexual harassment suit out of court in 2004 in which his unique affinity for falafel was revealed to the world. But Papa Bear knows his place in the world; to keep you forever pointed in the wrong direction, away from his bosses who actually produce much of the degenerate entertainment the Guardians decry. Indeed, all the proof you need for this relationship's existence is in the Fox network itself, which regularly pushes the boundaries for sex and violence on broadcast TV.

Naturally, they doth protest just enough.