The Last Frontier of Innocence Lost
In light of the
justified concern that is presently being voiced over the spiritual pitfalls
inherent in the Internet, a kasha needs to be asked:
What about
radio?
And we further
ask:
How many of
those attending the Asifa at Citi Field listen to radio in the house or car?
There was a time
when this medium was thought to be rather harmless. Even in places like NewSquare, which from the
get-go wisely banned television, radio was permitted. In those days, the worst one could hear on
the radio was the early stages of rock and roll. Most yeshiva boys and Bais Yaakov girls
didn’t bother with it, and those that did bend an ear in that direction heard
nothing more than much of what passes today for popular Jewish music, r”l. As for adults, rock and roll and other such
nonsense simply didn’t exist.
With the advent
of the all-news stations in the1960s, Jews representing the entire spectrum of
Torah Jewry were drawn to radio in greater numbers, and with good reason. For a 22 minute investment while driving to
one's office or working in the kitchen, 1010 WINS AM promised the world.
The station’s
format, which was later followed in large part by 880 CBS AM, was headline
oriented straight news without the de rigueur left wing spin of all too many
news outlets both then and now. It
didn’t boast the broadness and depth of the Sunday New York Times, but it
served a purpose for those who required no more than a lick and a shmeck as to
what was taking place outside their daled amos.
A little further
down the road a number of talk and opinion shows that proved to be popular in
our communities were introduced into the programming mix. Their popularity derived from the fact that
the views aired on them seemed to be on the same page with the political
opinions held by many in the Torah Camp.
So what
happened?
At first glance,
nothing. To those old enough to
remember, 1010 WINS AM sounds no different today than it did way back
when. The background sound effects are
the same, as are some of the reporters.
And one can chap-arein the news while otherwise engaged. For the most part, the all-news stations
continue to “grace” our homes and cars with the bare bones recital of the facts
without the spin, at least as compared to the left wing press, CNN, NPR, and
the national TV networks.
What changed was
the news.
What was once a
window to the world morphed into a pipeline from the sewer.
Almost twenty
years ago, Yated Ne’eman published an essay on the dangers inherent in listening
to radio. I quote:
Then one day
society went crazy, and as the last wall crumbled we were left exposed with America in our
face. One can almost put a finger on the
exact moment that the American dream became rated X.
If there is
an (American)English speaking ben or bas Torah (of that gerneration) who has
not heard of William Kennedy Smith, Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, Gennifer
Flowers, Amy Fisher, the Rainbow Curriculum, and a certain product that is
being distributed free of charge in New York City’s public high schools for the
purpose of slowing the spread of AIDS, then he or she NEVER listens to the
radio. And many of the handful that
actually were radio free heard about these things from those who weren’t.
This writer was
certainly on to something, but he wasn’t a Navi. As dire as the situation may have appeared in
1992-93, he never fathomed the depth of the black hole into which he was
looking. The bottom simply wasn’t on his
screen.
And then the Clintons came to town.
From the Satan’s
point of view, one could reasonably argue that the situation on the ground took a marked
turn for the better.
Query: How many of our grandmothers, mothers, wives,
sisters, daughters, and granddaughters (and the rest of us) old enough to have
listened to the radio during the years 1998-2000 were spared the knowledge that
Bill Clinton was not makpid on yichud in the Oval Office?
I quote again
from the same essay:
For those of
us who are old enough to be familiar with at least some of these news stories,
the shmutz that we have internalized by way of our ears has left an indelible
stain on our neshamos that will be there for life.
We have
stored in our collective subconscious images that until recently were beyond
the comprehension of a majority of Middle America.
The situation is such that a simple
recitation of the societal facts life in 2012 America is a greater danger to the neshama
than the ravings of sensationalist writers of but a generation ago.
How are we
supposed to live in a city or a country where the discussion of a presidential primary
or a
Supreme Court confirmation
hearing is not fit for the ears of construction workers, much less our own.
And that was
pre-Clinton. What would that writer say
now? What should we say?
But even Bill
Clinton didn’t hit bottom. After all,
radio’s faithful recitations of the Clinton
stroll in the gutter were pre-Michael Jackson and those that came after him.
And so it goes
without an end in sight.
In the Mesivta d’Rakiya
it may well be that our dor will be known as the generation that guarded
its tongue, and in some quarters at least, even attempted to guard its eyes.
But what will
they say about our ears?
