I give The Today Show credit for at least questioning the role the media plays in creating a courser and seemingly less kind culture.

Using Mary Elizabeth Williams’ Salon article declaring the death of decorum as a jumping off point, part one of the Today series rattled through a montage of prime examples of high-profile public crassness found on TV reality shows, cable news and the internet (i.e. YouTube and Twitter) in which rude and nasty people are rewarded with fame and, often, fortune.

Host Matt Lauer asks whether the cumulative effect of the constant barrage of negative words and behavior isn’t corroding the very idea of civility and restraint in social interactions.

Are we, in fact, becoming meaner people because of the massive amounts of negative pop culture we are consuming on a daily basis? Is consuming too junk TV like consuming too much junk food? It may seem great at first but, after a while, it takes its toll on health (whether physical or emotional).

Again, asking the question is a start. But don’t we already know the answer? We learn by example. TV, movies and popular culture can feed us the nourishment of positive examples of faith, kindness and empathy or load us up with cultural junk food that will tend to have the opposite effect. The choice is ours — or it should be.

So, how do we the people turn things around?  One way to start would be to deal with the medium that is most intrusive into our homes. That, of course, is televison.

Unlike movies, or even the internet, where we generally have to actively seek out the content we want, cable television channels that we’d prefer not to be exposed to have a way of reaching us almost through osmosis. What’s more, because of the way the system is rigged, we’re supporting programming through our cable fees that spews content we find objectionable whether we choose to watch it or not.

Imagine if you were to enter a bookstore and, to read the book you actually wanted, you were forced to buy every book on the shelves. That’s pretty much the system we have with television. Either disconnect completely or be forced to support channels promoting values that you vehemently disagree with. That’s not a fair choice. And that’s why we need consumer protection rules that giving we viewers choices regarding what does and does not come into our homes.

Ala carte programming not only offers consumers the opportunity to save money (by not being forced to pay for what they don’t want) but has the potential to influence culture by putting the gatekeeping power currently held exclusively by cable operators and network executives directly into the hands of the people.

Upfront and at regular renewal periods, consumers, by law, should be allowed to decide what cable channels they will allow into their homes and which ones they will continue to allow into their homes. Broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, by the way, would not be immune to consumer cancellations. (The current V-Chip is, I believe, intentionally cumbersome.) 

If you could buy packs of one or two dozen at a cheaper rate than the hundreds channels currently being shoved down your throat by the cable or satellite companies which ones would make the cut.

We’ve talked about this concept at our house. Based on our operators offerings, our list of twenty-four would include:
1. ABC
2. CBS
3. NBC
4. Fox
(That’s right. We’d stick with the commercial broadcast networks — for now. Though their hold on us is slipping.)
5. PBS
6. CNBC
7. CNN
8. Fox News
9. Discovery Channel
10. TLC
11. Telecare (The Catholic channel)
12. HGTV
13. Cartoon Network
14. TV Land
15. USA Network
16. The History Channel
17. Syfy
18. Comedy Central (only because of the The Daily Show and The Colbert Report)
19. Animal Planet
20. News 12 Traffic and Weather.
21. The Food Network
22. National Geographic Channel
23. The Travel Channel
24. The Hallmark Channel

That would be a pretty good mix of information and entertainment programming. Goodbye to MTV. Goodbye to Bravo. The crap-to-worthwhile programming ratios are way out of whack. I don’t want to watch them and I don’t want to support them with my cable fees. Goodbye to all the channel clutter.

If TV networks actually had to get our agreement to come into our homes, I suspect they’d work harder to actually give us what appeals to us rather than what appeals to them.