The Media & Morality in Society - A Rant Without Kant

Every media outlet espouses their own perspective of morality. Some intend to do this, others don’t really intend to do it, but every branch of the media does it because you cannot project a view of events and the world without wittingly or unwittingly providing a set of moral values by which people lead by virtue of their actions or by which people ought to lead by virtue of their actions.

So the Left leaning sectors of the media focus very much on “ethical” practices: domestic spheres, energy, foreign policy, the markets etc. And conservative leaning sectors of the media have other ideas: sex, relationships, family, upbringing, etiquette, drugs etc.

One of the more entertaining aspects of reading papers, news sites and watching and listening to broadcasts is that it is often great fun (for geeks like me) to spot the morality agenda. It is often the most subtle and nuanced aspect to news and comment, and those of a political disposition are often very attune to spotting the undertones and bias.

Pick up any middle England daily paper (sorry, I’ve got a hangover and I’ve just managed to eat so I can’t quite bring myself to naming any of the rags in full today for fear of destroying my I.T. in an avalanche of phlegm) and the core, base root of its moral view will be there: bolder and brasser than any other media form.

The way the (ahem) Hate Thing reported the Scarlett Keeling story was, in my eyes, pretty astounding, in that they decided to go straight for the moral jugular and muck rake the family to such as an extent, they could not possibly have moved for the sheer rainforests of print dedicated to ruining their name. For anyone who didn’t read the Hate’s reporting on the story (and likewise, the Shannon Matthews story) - the Hatchet job was so extraordinary I almost threw up at my computer. You see, the main story was the secondary narrative: what mattered was that readers at home should be told about how it’s all down to licentiousness, sluttish man-cock loving women, handouts, drugs, dodgy sleazy men with dark willies and young daughters out of control.

What I want to ask is this broad question: What is morality?

Too big and philosophical a question for a Bank Holiday weekend? Probably. In which case, grab a vodka, sit down, and if you are not already acquainted with this philosophical genius, read what the 18th century Doyen of moral and political thought had to say. Ladies and gents, I believe that to gain a strong and deep rooted understanding of the true meaning of morality, we need to look (in our post superstitious society) ever closer at the words of Immanuel Kant.

A moral act is one that is done out of rational behaviour and out of duty. Which ultimately means that religious people who do things in order to gain a better place in heaven are not actually doing ‘moral’ things, because there is a personal profit or pay off. Lefties who make certain “ethical”choices in the shops or who go to demos to chant at grey buildings may or may not be committing moral acts. It all depends on whether they are doing it for rational and duty bound reasons. If they are doing it to feel better, look trendy and caring in public and to get a spot writing for the Guardian, they are no being moral.

And what of the Right wing? Well, it all depends on what the readers of certain fascist newspapers have in mind when they cast aspersions on the moral conduct of others. I would assert that the targets of the right wing are often not as immoral as they are made out. And I would also point out that there is precious little that is rational and moral in living a boring, stifled suburban life, crushing any difference or diversity that hones into view and essentially thinking about yourself and your tiny existence till the day you die.

As far as the media goes, the Kantian view of morality is seldom portrayed, largely because it has no political place in our society. At least not yet. It takes Libertarians like my brilliant self to come along, become educated in politics, and take forward a brilliant, incisive and thoroughly well thought out world view.

Morality is usually a word that sends shivers down peoples’ spines. Why? Because we all feel we are guilty of breaching moral codes, and quite often, we feel the need to counter attack and deflect criticism and blame by shitting over others and making them look worse than ourselves. The right and left are bad at this. My stance is, read Kant, ditch the old prejudices and poison and move forward as rational and dutiful people. I think if people did more of that and less of the piety and muckraking, the world would be a better place.