[F]or a morality to be alive for us, it must be based on a deep understanding of the value and importance of the virtues to which we aspire; only when such understanding is rooted in models of conduct which engage our allegiance across the full cognitive spectrum—on a rich emotional-cum-intellectual level—will it have the power to inform our lives in a meaningful way. One factor which may be strongly implicated in the modern crisis besetting the ethics of marriage and the family is that the prevailing myths and models of living which are most widely accessible are those purveyed by the popular entertainment media—the shallow surface morality of the Hollywood soap opera. The images of human life which such works trade in (and they are absorbed day after day by millions around the planet) exalt above all things shallow achievement, ardent consumerism, instant gratification, and the excitement of 'Romance' (construed largely in terms of the demands of the two hour movie or the weekly television episode); and these very traits are inherently inimical to an appreciation of the values of long term affection, mutual tolerance and fidelity.
(John Cottingham, "Religion, Virtue and Ethical Culture," Philosophy 69 [April 1994]: 163-80, at 177-8)
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 