Where’s The Outrage? No, Seriously, Where Is It?

To hear some “pro-family” groups and government regulators tell it, you would think that America’s television screens had recently been hijacked by a marauding band of pornographers, and that the future of the republic depended on their being beaten back. Frank Rich has had it with the so-called “moral values” crowd and their false piety, especially since even a cursory investigation reveals that no one seems to get exercised about TV smut until they’re instructed to do so by well-funded professional outrage groups. Even worse, the supposed stacks of complaints received by the FCC regarding certain televised “incidents” have been grossly exaggerated, and usually consist of dozens of carbon copies of the same professionally generated complaint letter.