Washington political pundits continually praise Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman for bashing popular culture and Hollywood. While many loyal Democratic Party contributors in the entertainment industry maintain their support, one group is consistently being overlooked by pundits and pols alike: millions of young people whose culture is being demonized by the vice-presidential candidate.
The political class seems to believe that popular culture is popular against the wishes and values of its fans. There's a disconnect here: Politicians and pundits profess love for the idea of America and its freedoms, yet speak with disdain and condescension about a pop culture that most Americans like and enjoy.
After all, when Lieberman said of prime-time TV, "You can put a label on garbage, but it's still garbage," Washington insiders of every ideology voiced approval. Pundits and the pols seem to be telling tens of millions of fans of edgy entertainment that if they don't agree, they are morally inferior to the political class.
Lieberman, like Bob Dole before him, acknowledges he does not view all the programming he attacks, relying sometimes on staff descriptions. Nor do the Beltway bloviators make any effort to explain the moral distinction between the art and entertainment they approve of--such as Jackie Mason and "The Godfather"--and that they condemn--such as Jerry Seinfeld and gangsta rap. Small wonder young people increasingly ignore them.
This condescension toward pop culture knows no ideological boundaries. Ralph Nader and Harvard professor Cornel West have been as outspoken as Lieberman, William Bennett and Pat Buchanan in condemning youth-oriented entertainment. Yet, the violence and sex in classic drama like Shakespeare or Sophocles is not considered harmful. Maybe this is because the classics use different words for these activities, or that the older audiences that tend to watch the classics have such a sterling moral track record they can handle "dark-side" themes blamed for inciting mayhem when young people are exposed to them.
The dominion of American pop culture is unaffected by such snobbery. Globalization, technology and the 1st Amendment all assure that the artists and businesses creating entertainment will be just fine. But one result of politicians' continual attacks on pop culture is to drive away from politics the new generations necessary to maintain democratic traditions that the Beltway elite professes to treasure.
