They are not easily moved to excitement, but they are sure to become vocally outraged when their governments are found to be treating people less than decently according to Canadian standards. They are less concerned with national glory than that their country will continue to be a decent place to live. Today, behaviour that once was commonly identified as indecent has become almost the norm in western cultures. One need not live in the urban jungle, however, to be exposed to public indecency. The difficulty for many adults today is not so much avoiding indecent material themselves, but keeping their children from being exposed to it.
Parents rightly worry that the influence of the media makes children grow up too fast.
Until a few years ago, television networks more or less answered their concern by censoring programs at the times of day when the young ones were most likely to be watching. There was a time when a TV viewer could seek refuge from the flow of smut by turning to news and public affairs. While it was argued that this story had to be thoroughly reported due to its political significance, the coverage dwelt at excessive length on its more salacious details. Anyway, there was no evident political significance to the Bobbitt case a few years earlier, but the media nonetheless gave it lavish coverage. Political correctness versus decency Having evidently embraced the notion that there are no absolute goods or evils, TV journalists are chary of being seen to take anything resembling a moral stand.