It would be wonderful if Steven Slater would go before the cameras and say,

“I want to apologize to Jet Blue and its passengers for my conduct. I was frustrated and emotionally over-wrought, and I wrongly endangered the air travelers, betrayed by co-workers, and embarrassed my employers. I am not a folk hero or a role model. I am ordinary human being who lost control of his emotions, and behaved badly. I am sorry. If my meltdown contributes to a national dialogue that reminds people that we need to be civil patient and kind to one another, then at least something productive will have come out of an incident that I sincerely regret.”

That’s not going to happen. Making sure it isn’t going to happen are jaw-droppingly wrong-headed commentators like columnist Benedict Carey, who wrote,

“If his story holds up, Mr. Slater was trying to strike a blow for civility.”

Yup, that’s the way to strike a blow for civility: scream epithets over a loudspeaker at the people you were hired to serve, misuse the property of the employer who hired you, and run away.

This civilization-polluting idiocy isn’t confined to Carey, however. It is systematic, as our media and commercial sector cynically exploit a culture increasingly focused on pure celebrity rather than the achievements, talent and virtue that once created it. Now any kind of conduct, good or bad, may launch a career, and nobody—not promoters, not the media, and most of all, not consumers—is refusing to participate in a death-spiral of degradation that makes it profitable to be self-centered, irresponsible, obnoxious, dishonest, or worse.

Michaele Salahi, the distaff side of a couple that could be charitably described as scam artists, crashed a White House party to make herself reality show fodder, and sure enough, now she is a full-fledged reality show star, appearing on “The Real Housewives of D.C.” and getting promotional gigs on shows like “The View.” Eliot Spitzer parlayed a scandal involving his patronage of a prostitute ring to make himself an infamous national figure rather than a respected local one, and has been rewarded with his own show on CNN. John Edwards and Jesse James have so far not been able to overcome the public’s gag reflex, even as desensitized as it is, but don’t bet against them. John Edwards on “The Celebrity Apprentice”? Well, why not? Reality shows already proudly embrace exploitive (Kate Gosselin) and irresponsible (Dina Lohan) mothers…why not despicable fathers?

Leading the effort to make rotten conduct pay is Neil Stone, who runs Stone Entertainment. He recently created the show that will allow the shameless Levi Johnston to humiliate the citizens of Wasilla and ridicule the democratic process by running for mayor, thus proving that disloyalty, ignorance, greed and narcissism pay. Now he has offered Steven Slater the chance to host a reality show in which he would help disgruntled workers quit their jobs with just as much class as he did.

In a time of high unemployment and economic stress, the purveyors of popular culture are working hard to send the message that cheating on your spouse, betraying your employers, breaking the law and generally behaving like an irresponsible jerk can make you rich, famous, and popular, as long as you do it with enough flair or outrageous excess. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what the fruit of this will be—even Levi Johnston could figure it out. If we celebrate and reward unethical behavior, we will get more of it. Sooner or later, a culture that refuses to condemn misconduct will be dominated by it.