One of the common indictments that many people have made about modern American culture is that we seem to have somewhat of a crisis in morality. While it can be generally agreed upon that this is the case, different groups have different visions of the nature and causes of the moral problem. An example of the problem in America today would be the crimes of the corporate leaders such as Kenneth Lay of Enron and many others who have been shown to be lying and cheating the American people. On one side of the argument are those who claim that these types of crimes represent individual moral failings on the part of the person. This position argues that individuals should be held accountable and punished. On the other side are those who think the problems are more systemic and that larger, more complex issues about our very culture need to be evaluated.
             In reality, the questionable moral judgments of the Enron leaders and others are reflections of a larger trend in America in which people seem to be willing to bend their morality in the name of making profits. An example of this comes in Seabrook's book Nobrow, where he finds MTV President Judy McGrath presiding over a rather vulgar rehearsal of a Snoop Doggy Dogg song for the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards. Seabrook points out that, "As a leading influence in youth, MTV had an important role to play as a teacher and communicator, and by and large it took the role seriously" (75). This idea that MTV took their role seriously is directly contradicted by McGrath's lame justification for hyping a Snoop song that glorified pot smoking, violence, drinking, and pimping all in one five minute package. As McGrath put it, "Musically, Snoop is happening now and we have a responsibility to our viewers to show that. It is sort of scary where that this is the direction the music is taking us, but we're not really in control of that"
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