Anyone tired of hearing about the octuplets’ self-indulgent mother? Or disgusted by the revelation that a young woman is crazy enough to be Drew Peterson’s fifth fiancée (husband of “missing” Stacey Peterson)?  Or numbed by the repeated reports about the alleged abuses of singer Chris Brown or Michael Phelps. When did we shed decency, privacy and good judgment like a shirt from “Girls Gone Wild”?

Talk shows, tabloids, blogs, even so-called news programming are all mesmerized by what I’ll call the stupidity factor.  The bigger your mistake, the more press you are assured. Was no one taught that a mistake need not be publicized? That “dirty laundry” is not to be aired.

Starved for a good story about good people doing the right thing, we have practically suffocated the over-achieving and oh-so-competent pilot , Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger of Flight 1549. What he did was indeed a miracle, but maybe just as miraculous, he forced us as a society to focus on the good and right.

Why do I care so much about this proliferation of mindless drivel? As a mother of two, (8 and 13) it’s nearly impossible to shield children and teens from this kind of information. What will their short-term and long-term takeaway be? Does the sheer exposure of mistakes absolve our children of any guilt they may feel? If bad choices are celebrated, is there any point in agonizing over the right ones? It will be interesting to see how this next generation fares in this world of over-communication and over-exposure.

As a marketer, will this generation respond to the hyperbole of shock? Or as times continue to get tougher, will this situation rectify itself?