Whatever happened to the idea that public figures are

[raccoon]

supposed to set an example for young people?

This from another thread:

' "Screw the left in Hollywood who can’t understand what it is we see in someone like chris kyle and all of our vets,” Palin said, referencing comments from filmmaker Michael Moore and others who criticized the movie’s portrayal of war.

Then, too, there was Cheney saying to some Senator, "Eff you."

And there are other examples, too numerous to mention.

I know this post is showing my age. No, nobody has to get off my lawn. It's winter anyway.

Edited to add:

I just got the answer to my own question. As we live in a more and more media-saturated environment, there is a tendency, more and more, to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Politicians (and others) sound more and more like sideshow hucksters of yesteryear.

[Turbineguy]

1. Noblesse Oblige?

Sarah Palin doesn't qualify.

[YarnAddict]

2. You think this is just a Rethug thing??

How did you feel about Obama flipping off Hillary during the debates? Lots of people here thought it was the greatest thing ever.

I'm kind of old myself, and I don't like it. Our whole culture has gotten coarser, and we are not better for it.

[countmyvote4real]

3. I don't recall that ever happening.

I guess perception is all in the mind of the beholder. Got a YouTube link for that event?

[YarnAddict]

7. Yup.

Listen to the reaction of the crowd--and PBO's reaction to their reaction. Sure doesn't seem like just a little scratch of the cheek.

[bvf]

11. Pretty lame example

and your opinion depends on your definition of "flip-off." Dismissive statements are part of debate. Saying "Fuck you, " or, "Screw you," outright is a different thing, IMO.

[Fred Sanders]

17. Kind of a very wide definitiion being used. Debate point to you and opponent penalty for misusing a word.

[stevenleser]

34. That's not a "flip off" by any stretch of the imagination. nt

[GeorgeGist]

43. Not a debate.

[ColesCountyDem]

4. I don't recall that happeneing.

Link?

[YarnAddict]

8. Right here

[ColesCountyDem]

12. LOL!

THAT is the alleged 'evidence'?

[rurallib]

15. that is about the farthest fetched reach I have ever seen.

In his/her dreams

[handmade34]

5. ??

[YarnAddict]

9. Here you go

[Fred Sanders]

19. Funny how the video never changes?

[RKP5637]

6. As we descend more and more IMO into total Idiocracy, some public

figures exemplify this.

[bemildred]

10. Yes, I do remember that which you speak of,

when they actually tried to govern. It was around when Raygun came in, or late Jimmy C. when it started, the race to the bottom, the corruption of what was left of the US' news media. Now it's all about the money.

[gregcrawford]

13. Regarding Satan - I mean, Cheney...

... the incident to which you are referring was when Cheney broke a cardinal Senate rule prohibiting the use of profanity on the Senate floor. In response to a greeting, Cheney told Senator Patrick Leahy (D) Vermont, to "Go fuck yourself."

We can only hope that Cheney is on his last heart.

[Thespian2]

14. What examples did

such luminaries as Boss Tweed, Ulysses Grant, Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover, etc. set?

[Shemp Howard]

21. Excellent point!

Politicians of today are no different from the politicians of 50 or 100 years ago: A few shining stars, with the rest being some mix of incompetent and immoral.

The only difference is the Internet. Now everyone is aware of a political folly almost instantly. Back then most people were kept in the dark.

[zeemike]

25. It is not really about them, it is about us.

The reason it was kept dark was because WE would not accept it...but now we do.
We have changed...and not for the better.
I submit that when more than just a few of us accept torture and wars of aggression as American values it is OUR fault.
If 50 years ago it had been reveled that we tortured or was lied into a war it would have created an uproar that would have shaken politics to the core...now it is ho hum stuff.

[Shemp Howard]

27. Yours is an interesting argument.

I think there is something in what you say. But I wonder...what percentage of the American population would have accepted the waterboarding of a captured U-boat captain right after the Lusitania was sunk, as a means of protecting US shipping?

Would that percentage be very different than today?

I actually don't know. Just something to think about.

[zeemike]

30. There is always a percentage that would have accepted it.

But the difference now is that they have convinced a larger percentage that it is OK.
And the media did it by constant exposure to fear and loathing of the terrorist...in short we have been conditioned by propaganda just like the Fascist did to their people.

[yeoman6987]

28. The reason it is worse is exposure!

Internet changed everything. Plus I don't think a sports person or politician is obliged to be a role model. Why? Because they can throw or hit a ball or can convince the population to vote for them. I think it is a job and not an easy one at that.

[zeemike]

32. The internet just made it easier.

But exposure is what I am talking about...we expose even children to the fear of the evil ones from morning till night and then the torture and violence can be justified.
And our movies glorify the violence and make the heros violent people.
And if they are not obliged to be role models but they are one way or the other...and we have come to value the ones that are violent and who preach it too us.

[yeoman6987]

33. I think you are right, but Hollywood has tried to make a movie that does not glorify war but they

bombed at the box office. One was Lions of the Lamb with Meryl Streep and another called Rendition with Reece Witherspoon and nobody showed up to watch them. I just think Americans like positive American war films and that is all political parties obviously because American Sniper is being seen by way more than just Tea Party....they aren't that big a segment of our population thankfully. I think it is either that Americans this this is a positive movie showing Americans that we can patriots or something. I don't know how to explain the unexpected success of this movie at all. Over 200 million by the end of today.

[zeemike]

40. There is a lot more to it than popularity

There is marketing...and if the marketers want it to be a hit they can make it one.

And IMO we have been conditioning our children to violence and the love of "action" for more than a generation now, so no surprise when that is what they like to spend their money on.
And nothing will change until we change our hearts, which have become hardened to peace.

[raccoon]

23. I'm saying they are more openly coarse and vulgar now.

I'm not saying there weren't corrupt politicians.

[Fred Sanders]

16. Response to your edit....

The lowest common denominator was given a keyboard and an anonymous connection to the world of opinion and is out to teach a lesson to the mocking "liberals who think they are better than them".

Turning stupid into gold. Thriving on the mockery and spinning it into victimhood.

It is a God-given gift, a sin to waste such alchemy abilities.

[malthaussen]

18. On a related note...

I think it is interesting that when there were many newspapers per city and the media was more-or-less independent, it was the politicians and others who begged for access, not the reporters. As Chuck Toad has pointed out to anyone who will listen, now it is the reporters who beg for access. When the critic becomes a suppliant, it spells the end of criticism.

-- Mal

[Fred Sanders]

20. So true. And the end of fair and equal criticism by the media also marks the beginning of propaganda.

[Bluenorthwest]

22. What I remember: Nixon, Agnew, Anita Bryant, Briggs, handcuffs, George Wallace, firehoses,

segregation, the draft, war, discrimination. Every single nominee of every Party for President has to some degree denigrated my community ever since they stopped ignoring us entirely.

Here's the past. Tell me about how unlike a huckster this guy is, tell us about taste and how great it was back in the day:

[mountain grammy]

35. Yeah, I remember too, hate and fear never leave us, except for those brief moments of hope..

Don't let it be forgot / That once there was a spot / For one brief shining moment / That was known as Camelot!

I know I'm looking back with rose colored glasses, but it's all I got.. and it's not just the 1000 days of JFK I'm thinking about. It's the leaders who put themselves out there,giving us hope and direction, proudly proclaiming what America should stand for; liberty and justice for all, and paying a price for their beliefs.

From Medgar Evers to Harvey Milk, and everyone in between, seems a great leader and long life is mostly incompatible in America and the promise of inclusion and justice will always be met with hate and fear. We just have to keep on fighting.

[alphafemale]

24. The ONLY public figure. My only hero that never let me down is....

Muhammed Ali.

[beemer27]

26. Showing your age ...

I must be in the same age group as you are. It would be wonderful to see a FEW politicians with at least a minimum of class and intelligence. Vulgar language and gestures show a lack of both. I care not what language and behavior they use in private, but when in public, they are representing their constituents, and should act accordingly. Listen to us geezers, we know what we are talking about.

[raccoon]

41. Exactly the point I'm trying to make!

I care not what language and behavior they use in private, but when in public, they are representing their constituents, and should act accordingly.

[djean111]

29. I believe 99% of them do not consider themselves public servants, or whatever, any more.

They say whatever they need to, in public, in order to get elected.
They promise whatever they need to, in private, to the people with the money.

The people with the money have engineered things so that their money is necessary, and, as a result, they really are the ones who do the choosing, as far as candidates who are presented to us.

I have read, right here at DU, that of course Hillary should be the candidate because she has the really big money locked up. How fucked up is that? We LET that become reality, we LET that become the accepted reason. We accept that leading in some polls because of name recognition is quite the qualifier for being president, and then we accept that she is PROBABLY better than the GOP guy, and that is all that matters.

Then, of course, we have accepted that, once a politician is elected, they must do the bidding of their big contributors, so that they can get more money for reelection, or so they can land a cushy job when out of office. Their reelection campaign pretty much starts right after they are sworn in. And then, of course, they are told by their respective party leaders how they will be voting, and why any legislation they independently come up with will, of course, be tabled, if it is not what the Money wants.

My 19 year old grandson voted in November. He is more of a reddit guy than a DU guy. But his opinion about all of this is that the United States is now a giant clusterfuck, and we were thinking it would be great to have that sentiment on the big billboard in Times Square.

[Nye Bevan]

31. I'm not sure it's necessarily getting worse.

On May 22, 1856, the "world's greatest deliberative body" became a combat zone. In one of the most dramatic and deeply ominous moments in the Senate's entire history, a member of the House of Representatives entered the Senate chamber and savagely beat a senator into unconsciousness.

The inspiration for this clash came three days earlier when Senator Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts antislavery Republican, addressed the Senate on the explosive issue of whether Kansas should be admitted to the Union as a slave state or a free state. In his "Crime Against Kansas" speech, Sumner identified two Democratic senators as the principal culprits in this crime—Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South Carolina. He characterized Douglas to his face as a "noise-some, squat, and nameless animal . . . not a proper model for an American senator." Andrew Butler, who was not present, received more elaborate treatment. Mocking the South Carolina senator's stance as a man of chivalry, the Massachusetts senator charged him with taking "a mistress . . . who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight—I mean," added Sumner, "the harlot, Slavery."

Representative Preston Brooks was Butler's South Carolina kinsman. If he had believed Sumner to be a gentleman, he might have challenged him to a duel. Instead, he chose a light cane of the type used to discipline unruly dogs. Shortly after the Senate had adjourned for the day, Brooks entered the old chamber, where he found Sumner busily attaching his postal frank to copies of his "Crime Against Kansas" speech.

Moving quickly, Brooks slammed his metal-topped cane onto the unsuspecting Sumner's head. As Brooks struck again and again, Sumner rose and lurched blindly about the chamber, futilely attempting to protect himself. After a very long minute, it ended.

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Caning_of_Senator_Charles_Sumner.htm

Things like Anthony Weiner tweeting his cock seem like small potatoes in comparison.

[PeaceNikki]

36. I don't know. If you're going to use the "think of the children!" argument, language is not where I

would focus.

Language is not what is fucking up the kids, sending them to war is. Making education difficult to access is. Pandering to the wealthy is. Taking food from their mouths is.

The media-saturated environment doesn't make verbal attacks on candidates, representatives and parties more prevalent, it just lets us know about them more and more quickly.

I am not offended by colorful language. The word "Fuck" is on my family crest.

[stevenleser]

37. I expect that of clergy, not elected officials. I only expect elected officials to not be corrupt

(i.e. I expect them not to have a conflict of interest and/or use their jobs to self-enrich) and to do their jobs effectively.

Anything else does not concern me.

[marmar]

38. Sarah Palin is posterchild for jingoistic faux-patriotic idiocy

[CrispyQ]

39. We value the individual over community.

We glorify the individual over community at all costs, & now we have an entire society that appeals to the lowest common denominator. Until we realize that no individual can thrive outside of a healthy community, we will continue to slide into the abyss of greed & selfishness.

[karynnj]

42. It is a shift in public culture - and I show my age in not liking it

It was not just public figures that were suppose to set an example.

As an oldest child, I was often told that my behavior was important not just for what people thought of me, but in setting a good example for all my younger brothers and sisters.

I remember being told by a girl scout leader as we prepared to visit the near by big city (Chicago), that it was important that we behave as our behavior reflected on the Girl Scouts.

Later the same was said about my high school. By college, the culture was maybe changing enough that I no longer heard this.

Beyond politicians not being held to standards as leaders, consider that the culture has shifted so it actually was a negative to be seen, as Al Gore was, as a very straight Eagle Scout - or as John Kerry was as a genuine war hero, who held himself to high standards as a public official.