On the Culture

and its apathies:

Not long ago my wife and son arrived at a doctor's office for an appointment, only to be driven into the hall to escape the aggressions of daytime TV. In place of "Romper Room" and re-runs of "I Love Lucy," both wonderfully diverting with kids, there were great, steamy discussions of sex. Not marital sex, mind you, in which the fruits of love making include life, but sordid, unwholesome sex, wholly deranged from either life or love. A flock of Call Girls were chirping noisily away on the commercial advantages of selling themselves; well, doing it at least among clients of pronounced discretion and ready cash. Flesh being just another commodity, they felt, why not market it like any other upscale consumer item?

What was instructive about this particular episode, it turns out, was not the ardor of the prostitutes; after all, commercial sex being their business one expects a certain Rotarian pride in performing it well. No, the really striking thing about the discussion was the utter absence of any objection from the audience who heard it; not to mention the poor souls in the doctor's office by turns insulted and seduced by it. Indeed, there was not a whisper of disapproval from either group concerning a way of life which, until now, has been seen as squalid and degrading. Not a soul seemed to have taken the least notice of that dimension at all...

Dear Lord, what a comment.