You’ve probably heard of eating pie “a la mode” – meaning pie served in the current fashion or style. I’m thinking today about respect in the current Hollywood fashion or style. I use “Hollywood” to stand for the whole of the global entertainment industry: movies, TV, music, etc. How does respect look when it is exercised in the Hollywood fashion?
Respect a la Hollywood mode is more aptly termed disrespect by those who recognize the authentic article. Hollywood casts young people who exercise respect toward any adult as social misfits. They are not “cool” and cannot expect to be popular.
Respect a la Hollywood mode ushers an adult into the presence of royalty and scripts that person to speak rudely, refuse to bow, or otherwise show that he or she is as good as the royal person. The person of royalty has no value to those people. They see no reason to hold a king or queen in high esteem. If anything, they often act as though they have more value than the royalty in whose presence they stand.
In similar fashion, characters playing the United States President are often made to look bungling and stupid, while those who ought to be exercising respect toward the person as well as the office are cast as more intelligent, capable individuals. The President is shown little or no respect. After all, Hollywood seems to say, the highest office in the land does not merit high esteem. We ought not to hold this person in high regard and recognize some worth. The President has less value than we have, so we can and will act in a disrespectful manner.
Educators also are treated to large doses of disrespect in the entertainment world. Many nations have long given high honor to teachers, even after they retire from teaching. Young people are taught that the teacher is a person of value, and one to be held in high regard. The teacher is to be respected, both in school and in general society.
Respect a la Hollywood mode, however, despises teachers. It teaches children and teenagers that teachers are enemies, limiting freedom, assigning loathsome tasks, and hindering you from doing what you really want to do. Those who fully respect teachers are bullied, and often ostracized.
The world of entertainment is aggressive in its teaching that police officers do not deserve respect. After all, of what value is a police officer to people who do not want to obey the law? Police officers are to be mocked, tricked, and deceived – according to the entertainment industry.
Summing up, we see that Hollywood views respect for any person in any position of authority as distasteful. It views respect for anyone else, no matter their position, as objectionable. Respect asks us to view someone else as having more value in some way than we have. That is serious thinking. Respect asks us to take serious action – and the entertainment industry seldom wants to be serious.
The result is that, from childhood cartoons to R-rated movies and music, Hollywood sends a nearly consistent, strong message about respect: this character trait is for losers.
It is no wonder, then, that true respect is fading from society. It is no wonder that parents and teachers so frequently say, as American comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “I don’t get no respect.”
The only way we will save respect before it is gone forever from society is to fight back. We must counteract the teaching of the entertainment industry, give young people a clear understanding of this character trait, and motivate them to want it in their lives. Only then can they exercise authentic respect.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?