The continuing reaction to David Letterman's coarse (at best) monologue bit about Sarah Palin's teenage daughter having sex with a man at least twice her age in the dugout during the 7th inning stretch of a Yankee's game is not dying out for several reasons. One is the incident's role as another illustration that Letterman's best times are behind him. He certainly has jumped the shark.  Another is the incident's illumination that Letterman's brand of humor: crude, vicious, unfeeling, dark, etc., is an example of and a contributor to emotional callousness.  It is toxic because it eats away at our humanity.  How hardened can our hearts become?

But more importantly, on a broader scale, Letterman's (and many others') too often toxic humor are examples of America going bad. The uglier we allow our public discourse, the more we lose the humanity and decency that underpin a sustainable society of liberty. A society that is flawed, of course, but wonderful nevertheless. So what's the problem?  Alexis de Tocqueville wrote more than a hundred and fifty years ago: "America is great because she is good and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." 

That so many laugh at "humor" like Letterman's recent shark jump is a symptom of America ceasing to be good. That is not news, really.  But we should change it.  A breath of fresh air, the change we need to believe in, would be Americans cleaning up their act, mainly their minds, to the point of appreciating good humor (more like what Bob Hope and Johnny Carson gave us) and scoffing at bad humor like Letterman's "joke" about a teenage girl.