Guest Column: What's Decent? An Eternal, and Internal, Question

Cable World,  Jan 9, 2006  

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By John E. Roos

"What's decent?" That question was posed on the Nov. 7 cover of this magazine. A bold question to ask an industry proud to have broken the mold of the three-network moral monopoly. In its place, an ever-expanding cavalcade of niches, all delivered through one pipe.

Cable has become a medium for everyone. Men and women. Rockers and hillbillies. The new immigrant and Brahmin. Buddhists and Baptists. Radicals and reactionaries, and everyone in between.

After all, the industry committed a decade to being all about "choice." What better choice than to have all of the options the world could offer at your clicking finger tip.

Almost 100 years ago, William James described the emerging world as a "pluralistic universe." Today, with a world that seems "pluralistic," it can seem impossible to define words like "decent."

But, in fact, the word has been defined. And, the definition is clear and simple. For example, the American Heritage Dictionary defines "decent" as "1. Characterized by conformity to recognized standards of propriety or morality. 2. Free from indelicacy; modest."

So the more important question is, are there "recognized standards of propriety or morality"?

Writing almost 70 years ago, philosopher-mathematician Alfred North Whitehead argued that if we are honest with ourselves, we cannot conceive of a universe without "a source of ideals." Our lives demonstrate that there is a "sense of worth beyond ourselves." We all instinctively sense that there are "values beyond ourselves."

Whitehead defined those who rejected this sense as "solipsists," people who embrace "solipsism" and claim that only the self exists or can be proven to exist.

Whitehead wrote, "A solipsist experience cannot succeed or fail, for it would be all that exists. There would be no standard of comparison." Ultimately, "human experience explicitly relates itself to an external standard."

It can be argued that we have become a solipsistic society in which we all are a majority of one in our own solipsistic universes. And, that cable, with its multifarious programming sources and diverse niches, embodies this solipsistic philosophy.

As we ponder the meaning of "decent," the concept of solipsism can emerge with renewed relevance. To agree that there is a "source of ideals" in the universe is not to imply that there is a monolithic blueprint for every action or thought. Yes, we are free individuals with individual differences. Yet, somehow, every day, there are things that all of us somehow know are right and wrong. Simple things like mourning victims of hurricanes and earthquakes, cherishing the birth of a child and sharing in the sorrow of those who experience loss.

Why are these reactions so common? Perhaps, as Whitehead argued, we should be able to agree that our human experience "explicitly relates to an external standard." We know instinctively there is something outside ourselves and that all things do not spring from within the self.

But is it possible that as an industry we can agree there are "recognized standards of propriety or morality"? The challenge may be less for corporations than for individuals who, every day, have opportunities to conform to these standards.

In fact, the meaning of "decent" must be answered anew every time one of us enters an editing suite or network boardroom.

A wise man once gave this advice: "Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

Some might argue that this is naive, archaic and unrealistic. But others might see this as a common-sense standard that can help us move toward a frame of reference dedicated to decency.

So, how do we define "decent"? The word already has a definition. The question is whether or not we are concerned with "external standards" or agree that there are "recognized standards of propriety or morality."

Everyone in the industry needs to answer this question. Personally.

John E. Roos is SVP, marketing, for The Inspiration Networks.

[Copyright 2006 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]

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