Customer Reviews

Vulgarians at the Gate: Trash TV and Raunch Radio--Raising the Standards of Popular Culture

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Steve Allen was one of the last bright and articulate Hollywood personalities. Any... complaint to this effect is greeted by mindless intonations of "censorship".... Censorship means governmental restrictions of speech. Allen does not advocate this. He argues for discernment and reasoned action. After surveying the decline of culture--as evidenced by obscenity, indecency, and outright stupidity everywhere--Allen calls for a return to clean, creative, and interesting art.

Allen argues from common sense and not explicitly from religious ideals. (He take a few unwarranted pot shots at religion, but I'll let that go, given the importance of his book. The overall tone is not hostile to faith.) He advises those concerned about the rottenness and perversion of culture to demand something better.

This is mere sanity. Culture counts. Art is not morally neutral. It affects people for good or evil. Those who listen to Marilyn Manson, for instance, imbibe his ugliness, hate, and horror. (He named himself after Charles Manson and Marilyn Monroe.)

I was particularly struck by two of Allen's comments.

1. Civilization is fragile (p. 281). It requires an ethical core that is eroding.... More and more of culture is becoming "an occasion to sin" (p. 107)...Allen has many insider insights that make for interesting reading. However, he needed a more active editor. The book is somewhat repetitive and could have been shorter. ...Mr. Allen, we will miss you. I don't expect to find anyone like you in Hollywood in near future, and for that we will be poorer.

--Douglas Groothuis

I think Steve Allen made an absolutely convincing case in "Vulgarians at the Gate" that American culture has been measurably coarsened in recent years -- and that TV is the most powerful medium in establishing the new, oh-so-low standards as the norm among children. All you have to do is watch a little TV to see how obviously right Steve Allen was. But one thing about this book is not so obvious: the COURAGE that Steve Allen showed in speaking his mind. He had to know that in the close-knit Hollywood community, which is so intolerant of criticism, his career would be hurt by the stand he took. How many other stars of Steve Allen's magnitude have uttered even one word of caution about the sweeping away of moral standards in the media that have made them fabulously wealthy? Steve Allen stood virtually alone. That took a lot of guts, and parents and grandparents owe him a debt of gratitude for the courage he displayed.

I grew up watching Steve Allen on the tube in L.A. Those were his early years, and he provided a lot of laughs and comic routines that in time became classics.

Only later did I learn more about his career, the successful songwriter and true renaissance man. This book is a fitting postscript to his career, which contributed immensely to improving American culture.

The title says it all - we do, indeed, have "vulgarians" at the gate. Allen managed to make the world laugh - without once stepping into the gutter. Movies and television in the past entertained and moved millions - without stepping into the gutter. Steve Allen has the nerve to point this out - to say out loud that the "emperor" of modern entertainment really has no clothes. For this he is being posthumously pilloried by folks who don't like the obvious being pointed out.

That's too bad, as Steve Allen raises many serious points, worthy of serious thought - not knee-jerk hostility. I found the book intriguing and thought provoking. His basic message is that it is up to us as individuals to accept the responsibility for what passes as "entertainment", and that if we are unhappy with what we see - take action. That formula is as American as apple pie - as was the author.

So one final time - thanks Steve. Thanks for making me laugh as a teenager staying up later than I should just to watch you. Thanks for the wonderful songs that we still hum. Thanks for the books that have made us think. And thanks for being willing, right to the end, to stand up for what you believe.

Televisions renaissance man turns out to be a great spokesman for all of us parents in this new book. What a pleasant surprise that someone from Hollywood would actually admit that many of today's films, tv shows and gangsta rap Cd's are actually harmful for our children. When you read this book, and I sincerely hope you will, you will be amazed and appalled at the vile material that is being marketed to our kids. Steve Allen makes a compelling case for all of us to stop blaming someone else for the sad state of popular culture today and start doing something about the problem. Having read this book I can heartily recommend that it is a great first step for anyone interested in what they can do about the increasing levels of vulgarity and violence in entertainment today. If you've ever wanted to talk back to Hollywood, this book will show you exactly how!

The late Mr. Allen's posthumous book is a tour de force in common sense and thoughfulness. He has the courage and wisdom to state the obvious, and we should all take heed. The media are as malevolent as they are benevolent. Crass and vulgar radio and television have "better" culture on the ropes, and it is time we all (those of us with a concern for basic human decency) referee that ring or suffer the consequences of what is "good" and "noble" in life going down for the count.

Mr. Allen doesn't say that certain expletive words are bad, in and of themselves, but that used for simply shock value they lose their appeal and meaning. His book reminded me of a PBS special I saw a few years back with Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner and Larry Gelbart from the old Show of Shows program when I was a toddler. It was Mel Brooks who made the astute observation as Steve Allen does so well in this book, that as television became more available to the masses, often an uneducated masses, television dumbed down. That when television first came out, only those with money and alas the education to have a great job could afford a television. And it was this same population that being well educated, didn't need things spelled out for them. They could hear an innuendo in a joke and "get it". But as more and more people could afford a television the more crude shows became.

Steve Allen was one of the biggest supporters of the late comic genius Lenny Bruce who in December 2003 month, was granted a posthumous pardon by the Governor of New York, George Pataki, for his (Lenny Bruces) 1964 conviction for using obscene language in a Greenwich Village nightclub act. Lenny Bruce appeared in nightclubs where his act included routines on controversial themes (religious, political and social) often done in very strong blunt language.

He isn't advocating censorship, but some way of getting dumbed down America out of the gutter and back up on the damn sidewalk. And he fully supports Lenny Bruce style "mature" humor which Bill Maher (whom I like) does. Mr. Allen wants to prick the readers consciousness and get them to think for a change and raise the level of intellect so that the Howard Sterns of the world are seen for the sophomoric people they are and the Lenny Bruces and Mort Sahl's are respected for being the social, religious and political genius provocateurs that they are, by using language often harsh or profane, for intellectual discourse and positive change.

Allen's book may not seem like anything new, because many have gone before him on this topic. Nevertheless, _Vulgarians_ is an excellent synthesis of current theories about the effect of media sleaze on young people.
Allen doesn't propose outright censorship, but he reminds us that that self-policing by the media congloms is never going to happen as long as sleaze remains profitable.
He also explores a point that is sometimes missed by media critics: The CEOs of the huge companies that sponsor the TV shows, as well as the CEOs of the huge media congloms, are "country club conservatives" who no doubt support Bush and conservative politics. Yet they mysteriously become amoral when it comes to propagating media garbage because they'e making so much money from it. FOX network comes to mind...
Allen observes, ironically, that few of these people would want their own six year-old daughters to be exposed to the junk they're selling, but they don't mind exposing the masses' children to it.

The "reader from Long Island, N.Y." who referred to the late, great Steve Allen as a "fossil" should be ashamed of himself. Steve Allen was one of the greatest entertainers in the history of this country, and his recent passing will be mourned by millions for many years. He did indeed compose thousands of memorable songs. Have you ever heard of "This Could Be the Start of Something Big?" Mr. "reader from Long Island?" That "show where people sat around dressed like Freud" was of course, the great "Meeting of the Minds," which won several awards and was aired on PBS for years. Do bad shows air on PBS and win awards? I think not! Perhaps Mr. Long Island is a fan of porn purveyors like Howard Stern and Dan Imus. Besides promotion pornography, Mr. Stern seems to specialize in the degradation of the handicapped. I am told that Mr. Stern employs a retarded gentleman whom he refers to as "babalooey" solely for the purpose of ridiculing him on the air. I am told that a recent Stern program featured a retarded gentleman cutting the hair of another retarded gentleman, while Stern and his cronies laughed uproariously. That's entertainment? I don't think so, and neither did Steve Allen. Steve Allen entertained and amused millions without resorting to being a "pottymouth." Fans of Mr. Stern can never understand the appreciation millions of decent Americans have for wholesome entertainers like Mr. Allen, as well as Rosie O'Donnell, Regis Philbin, and Kathy Lee Gifford, etc. As a librarian I am constantly amazed by the filth that that I am forced to put on the bookshelves week after week. We are even forced to subscibe to "Playboy " magazine because one twisted patron requestes it. If this makes me a "square" then so be it. Steve, we miss you already.

Steve Allen got it right in the diagnosis. Television (and Radio) in the U.S. *is* getting more and more vulgar, sexually explicit, and violent all the time, and americans are getting sick and tired of it.

Mr. Allen uses four major examples in his book. They are Madonna's shameless self-promotion by tittilation, Howard Stern's big bag-of-sleaze, cable television's new "adult-oriented" programs (esp. Comedy Central's crass "South Park" and HBO's "Sex and the City", which has a group of 30-something women with the mental attitude toward sex of a 15-year-old), and rap music's murder-glorifying lyrics.

What enrages Steve Allen most of all - and here he is both very correct and very wrong (see below) - is the dishonest use of "freedom of speech" and "artistic freedom" arguments by these people to justify their vulagarity. These arguments just don't hold water. Freedom of speech doesn't require me to call every person I meet an "a**hole", or for Madonna to promote bestiality in her book "Sex", or for for Howard Stern to try and make a film called "Fartman" (It never got made; as a MAD magazine satire noted, "Perhaps the script was too high class".)

The excuse of "exploting taboo subjects" is also very weak, notes Allen. Are black rappers who sing about raping "***" and "***" "exploing the taboos of society"? Do they *really* think rape and murder are just fine and should be permitted by the US's "repressive" society, just like their fathers and grandfathers fought for integration or protested the Vietnam war? Is cable TV's "South Park" breaking any new grounds in social commentary, except for being probably the most vulgar cartoon ever? Allen doubts this, and gives ample evidence that the "Freedom of Speech" and "artistic freedom" are merely used as excuses for the real motives of the "vulagarians" - anything for a buck.

But Allen is very, very wrong in his solution. Amazingly, his solution is increased censorship and government regulation of the airwaves, to ban such vulgar programs! Mr. Allen, like his targets, completely forgets the difference between *toleration* and *justification*. It is perfectly true that the first amendment does not *justify* me (or Madonna, or anybody) being vulgar and offensive. But it does mean that you must, legally, *tolerate* me being vulgar and offensive - although I do not, like the vulagarians claim, have the additional right to be free of any criticism of my behavior as unjustified and wrong just because it must be tolerated.

Howard Stern behaves shamelessly; we can condemn him - as Allen rightly does - and we have every right to do so. We can demand from the networks that he be taken off the air or else we will stop watching their shows. We do not have to socially tolerate him and can make it quite clear to the networks that it is either him or us. But we *cannot* establish laws that make it *illegal* for him to act in this way. We must *legally* tolerate him.

Steve Allen's idea - to make it illegal for the likes of Howard Stern to be on the air - is just as absurd as a law that would forbid people with bad table manners to eat in restaurants, under the claim that it isn't "really" a bad law since it proibits *everybody* from having bad table manners, not just people that are inclined to do so (As Voltaire said, "The Law, in its magnificent equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg for money, and steal a loaf of bread.")

Steve Allen's view would make legal *only* that which is also justifiable; it would limit public speech to things that are *good* for you, or more precisely, to things one can convince government beurocrats are good for you (paranthetically, I wonder how such laws would be formulated; it would be interesting to see a law banning "art that advocates violence towards women" managing to ban rap music but allow, say, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, or OTHELLO, or most operas, given the violence against women in those works.)

Vulgarity, excessive sex and ruthless violence in television and popular culture is bad; we have every right to criticize it; but americans have *no* right to ban it, if their freedoms are valued.

Steve Allen opens our eyes to a problem that should never have ocurred. The american public let this problem of vulgarity slip through our fingers. But, we can act to stop it. This book acts as a motivator for people to do their part to protect the future generations of our country. This book is superbly written and a perfect resource for anyone who feels strongly about this issue of vulgarity in the media. After reading many of Steve Allen's books I feel this is his best work yet. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to do their part to help bring the world back to the golden age of television(And who knows more about that than Steve Allen). By creating the Steve Allen show and the Tonight show, he started the golden age of television. I am sure that it hurt him to see what he helped to create sink to the depth it is at today. Read this book!