They are, however, more moral than the American broadcast media, which, in the last month, morphed from mere portrayers of what Bernstein called the "lurid and loopy," to a public relations machine for a dangerously out-of-control, clearly mentally unstable drug addict.

We speak, of course, of Charlie Sheen, who brags of spending vast sums on drugs, prostitutes and porn stars and has consequently been provided with the airwaves as a platform to self-destruct. It took the earthquake in Japan to drive him, temporarily, from the air.

Naturally, the effects of the tidal wave were bound to eventually reach Detroit, where Sheen, if still alive and at liberty, will disgrace himself further at the Fox on April 2. Since there are no longer free public hangings, the idea is to get Detroiters to pay $35 a pop or more in the hope of seeing him self-destruct on stage. That intellectual sage of our time, WRIF disc jockey Drew Lane, told the Free Press, "Every time he opens his mouth, it's breaking news. ... I can't tell you why it's important, but ... everyone's completely fascinated."

Right. Nineteen years ago, Carl Bernstein concluded that both the media and public had abdicated their responsibility, and the consequence was "the spectacle and the triumph of the idiot culture." Poor Carl had no idea he'd ain't seen nothing yet.

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