“…it is about as bleak as it has ever been for an environment of being creative.” So says Jeff Pollack of the Pollack Media Group when commenting on the FCC’s recent crackdown on indecency over the airwaves (Rocky Mountain News, March 27, 2004). I’d like to know when the public display of profanity, vulgarity and pornography became equated with creativity. I feel horrible for missing it but I’m going to make up for lost time and apologize to my brother right away. You see, when I was 11 and he was 9, I beat the snot out of him. Why? Because he’d just learned the f-bomb and decided to display his newly expanded vocabularly to the neighborhood. Little did I know that by pouncing on him as I did that I was stifling his creativity. No wonder he turned out to be a cold hearted capitalist. It was all my fault for beating up his inner muse.
Seriously though, I think that entertainers and the media have confused the profane with the profound. Being profane is easy, it’s the low hanging fruit. In fact, it’s not even on the tree anymore, it’s rotting on the ground where anyone can pick it up. Being profound, in any endeavor, is harder. It’s being thoughtful and original in imbuing meaning to any undertaking. Hmmmm, sounds like creativity to me.
Respectfully submitted,
tom.gray@gemsolv.com
