Our society and culture is spiraling downward. Morals mean little today. Sleeping around is the new god that people tend to worship. Things that were one day unspeakable for a myriad of reasons are now front page fodder. Tell me, do you think this woman’s parents are proud of her this morning – from the front page, left side of today’s New York Post:

Picture 1

Mom ain’t framing this front page. At one time, publicly discussing what happens behind a bedroom door (or in the case of the Knicks’ intern, in the backseat of Stephon Marbury’s truck) was a no-no. It was viewed upon as tawdry. Forget the fact that the “deed was done” in the first place, but to tell others or even bragging that you’ve had sex was at one time was viewed negatively by society. Yes, pigheaded guys would “brag” to their buddies, but to put a billboard up proclaiming your sexual conquests was a no-no.Today in areas of our society and culture, it is just the opposite.

MySpace is a social-networking site that allows people to communicate with friends. A good chunk of MySpace is just fine, but a huge number of these pages are filled with teens and college students talking about their sexual conquests, how much they like to drink, and other various issues that were once thought to be private. One page that I read this morning while researching for this post said he has “banged 65 hos” so far while in college. In fact in parts, the social network MySpace rips the scabs off the festering wounds of a society gone wrong. Do you know how many college students or just anyone on MySpace post pictures in their various forms of drunkenness? Or that they use language that is not permissible in professional life? Or that they post something on their MySpace blog that has come back to bite them in the backside?

I’ve been counseling (the only word I can think of for it) a just-out-college woman who attends a church in Rockland County. She has a number of issues she is trying to deal with, one extremely serious. But in the course of our talking, her now-shuttered MySpace page came up; it has caused her lots of trouble. See, she had a MySpace page all through college and wrote about her sexual exploits; her weekends filled with parties, alcohol, and drugs; and how many times she was so drunk or drugged out that she missed class. She thought, “Heck, it was on MySpace and only young people know about it.” She thought that no businessman or woman would know anything about that social-networking site and be able to find her.

Well, her bosses found out about her MySpace page and fired her. The reason? Her actions were not in conformance with their company’s behavioral policy. It didn’t matter it was “private” page, but that her actions were so disgraceful, the owners of the company didn’t want her working there.

And this story isn’t just random. People who have these pages are getting fired or are facing termination for these MySpace pages. And when you talk to these college and just after graduation people who still have these pages with stupid pictures and moronic comments written by so-called “Friends,” they think nothing is wrong. For these young people to think that society has to accept their debauchery as OK is just stupid.

We don’t.

UPDATE: MySpace, as a whole, is not a bad site. Just that some people who are using this networking site are not thinking. When “you grow up,” sometimes things you did as a young person are NOT forgotten by others. Posting that you like to drink and that you sleep around doesn’t give prospective bosses confidence.