Part of the reason families are floundering today is because we lack a simple moral compass by which to assess our experience of culture. Through the VirtueSearch platform, the VIRTUE LITERACY PROJECT is pioneering a fresh solution, a whole new way to evaluate reading, media and music. VirtueSearch will offer a unique rating system focused on positive, virtue-based, criteria.
Why do we need Virtue Ratings?
Current outdated rating systems like PG, PG-13, R, X, M, and ADULT are based on warnings about negative content. They were appropriate for an era when the bulk of reading and media was wholesome, and families needed a way to identify the “bad apples.” With our current flood of toxic content, such ratings only normalize the morally distorted content and encourage children and teens to desire to experience progressively worse material. In the modern marketplace, healthy and harmful titles are promoted equally, within a insidious spectrum of “age appropriateness.”
How will it work?
The VIRTUE SEARCH online platform will apply 40 Everyday Virtues™ to rate reading and entertainment according to positive content. The truly “bad apples” don’t even merit a rating and are excluded.
Each virtue-rated title on the VirtueSearch Reading & Media Guide platform will highlight 3 specific Everyday Virtues™ that are prominent in the title. A V#+ will also be assigned to each title. This easy-to-understand code indicates: "V" (Virtue-rated material), "#" (A target age/maturity that is great for someone to start enjoying the title), "+" (affirming that everyone above that age/maturity can enjoy the title too). This simple structure provides at-a-glance moral nutrition information for individuals and families to consume reading, media, and entertainment that helps them be happy and healthy inside and out.
YELLOW:
Humility - Choosing the strength of littleness
Adaptability - Adjust to change agreeably
Empathy - Sharing the feelings of another
Peacefulness - Internal restraint and calmness
Humor - Laughter with, not at, others
Courage - Acting upon good & resolute beliefs, despite danger
Obedience - Following direction of rightful authority
Diligence - Persistent work and effort
BLUE:
Inspiration - Energizing another’s faith or enthusiasm
Trust - Confident reliance on God or others
Fortitude - Spiritual staying power and stamina
Faith - Relying on God’s power
Faithfulness - Loyalty to keep promises
Acceptance - Saying “yes” to life as is
Resourcefulness - Creative problem solving
Orderliness - To arrange things or time with purpose
SILVER:
Wisdom - Using strong spiritual judgement
Charity - Love that motivates generosity
Integrity - Consistently seeking to do good
Hope - Belief in a good future with God
Justice - To lift up the lowly
Mercy - Compassionate forgiveness
Purity - Unselfish intention and action
Frugality - Careful use of money
RED:
Gratitude - Thankfulness & appreciation
Joyfulness - Gladness despite difficulty
Perseverance - Unwavering endurance
Modesty - “It’s not about me” selflessness
Cooperation - Sacrificing to work with another
Patience - To wait in spite of frustration
Respect - To honor the dignity of another
Tact - Using words with great care
GREEN:
Kindness - Consideration to put others first
Honesty - Exercising authenticity & truth
Self-Discipline - Self-imposed obedience
Devotion - Ardent love, no matter what
Steadfastness - Constancy & dedication.
Prudence - Choosing the greatest good
Moderation - Avoiding extremes
Piety - Reverence for what is holy
Ultimately, as families become familiar with the Everyday Virtues™ and use the VirtueSearch Rating System to choose the media and entertainment they consume, they will notice a growing desire in their hearts to raise the bar for the content they are willing to spend their time and money on. Thus, we can shift the cultural conversation toward a celebration of titles that offer excellence in both style AND substance. Growth in Virtue Literacy will enable us to not only look at each book we read, each movie we watch, and each song we sing…through the lens of VIRTUE...but also to seek to make Virtue the standard by which we live our lives.