Monday, February 02, 2004
Counter-Productive
In keeping with one of the principles of my blog (originality, or at the very least, the lack of being trite and predictable), I usually don't like to talk about the "hot button" issue of the day. And doesn't it seem like there always is one? You could keep track of a year just by marking down the hottest issue of each day. When you looked back on it, I bet you'd find that, as a whole, we're all pretty stupid.
But, I'm going to break my principle a bit and talk about the whole "Janet Jackson's Super Boobies" issue. Something tells me that this won't be very timeless if I talk about that particular topic. I imagine we'll think of this issue in a few years just like we know think of, say, Roseanne Barr grabbing her crotch while singing the National Anthem - silly, overblown, and not worth one percent of the time spent discussing it when it occurred.
So, I certainly don't want to add fuel to that fire, or at least more than necessary. I'll try to skirt the issue a bit. I'm not quite sure what outrages people so much. (And they are outraged, let me tell you. I spent a lot of time in the car today, and it dominated the radio.) Is it that people are offended by the sight of a female breast? Is it that it occurred in front of 100 million people? Is it that the show is supposed to be "family oriented"? Is it the blatant lies of the parties involved when they claim that it was an accident? I'll tell you what annoys me the most about it - that so many people are talking about it so much and overshadowing what was an excellent football game. If you're really upset about it, don't mention it again! It's just what they want you to do!
I think I've made my point earlier about our society's ridiculous notions of what's explicit. It's just a boob. For, like three seconds it was on screen. It kind of reminds me of that scene in "Fight Club", where Tyler Durden has a job as a projectionist and splices very short clips of male genital into the films, and one kid just starts crying in the middle of a cartoon. Did that happen around the world? Of course not. Once again, if you don't make a big deal out of it, it goes away. And even if it is a big deal, what's going to happen? Are kids all of a sudden going to become promiscuous because they see a breast on TV? Of course not. Maybe this was not the most natural display of sexuality, but you don't have to look very hard to see almost naked women all around. Maybe these people should start looking into healthy ways of dealing with their boob issues.
As for the "family oriented" argument, you've got to be kidding me. Let's look at the people that were involved in the half-time show: P. Diddy, Kid Rock, Nelly, Janet, and Justin Timberlake. P. Diddy is a wanna-be gangster. Kid Rock talks about his "heroes in the methodone clinics", and how he's a pimp. Nelly states that "It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes". Janet Jackson released an album called "The Velvet Rope", talking about her S+M fantasies. Justin Timberlake's biggest accomplishment is having sex with Britney Spears and then telling everyone about it. Somehow, had no boobage been shown, I doubt anyone would be complaining that this wasn't suitable family entertainment. Well, those people are oblivious idiots.
The media knows that "sex sells". The boundaries are going to keep getting pushed. You can keep getting outraged, which is counter-productive, or you can start teaching your children about the media and how it works, and how to intelligently consume media in a responsible manner. I know, maybe that's too much work. So go back to complaining and see how much it helps.
But, I'm going to break my principle a bit and talk about the whole "Janet Jackson's Super Boobies" issue. Something tells me that this won't be very timeless if I talk about that particular topic. I imagine we'll think of this issue in a few years just like we know think of, say, Roseanne Barr grabbing her crotch while singing the National Anthem - silly, overblown, and not worth one percent of the time spent discussing it when it occurred.
So, I certainly don't want to add fuel to that fire, or at least more than necessary. I'll try to skirt the issue a bit. I'm not quite sure what outrages people so much. (And they are outraged, let me tell you. I spent a lot of time in the car today, and it dominated the radio.) Is it that people are offended by the sight of a female breast? Is it that it occurred in front of 100 million people? Is it that the show is supposed to be "family oriented"? Is it the blatant lies of the parties involved when they claim that it was an accident? I'll tell you what annoys me the most about it - that so many people are talking about it so much and overshadowing what was an excellent football game. If you're really upset about it, don't mention it again! It's just what they want you to do!
I think I've made my point earlier about our society's ridiculous notions of what's explicit. It's just a boob. For, like three seconds it was on screen. It kind of reminds me of that scene in "Fight Club", where Tyler Durden has a job as a projectionist and splices very short clips of male genital into the films, and one kid just starts crying in the middle of a cartoon. Did that happen around the world? Of course not. Once again, if you don't make a big deal out of it, it goes away. And even if it is a big deal, what's going to happen? Are kids all of a sudden going to become promiscuous because they see a breast on TV? Of course not. Maybe this was not the most natural display of sexuality, but you don't have to look very hard to see almost naked women all around. Maybe these people should start looking into healthy ways of dealing with their boob issues.
As for the "family oriented" argument, you've got to be kidding me. Let's look at the people that were involved in the half-time show: P. Diddy, Kid Rock, Nelly, Janet, and Justin Timberlake. P. Diddy is a wanna-be gangster. Kid Rock talks about his "heroes in the methodone clinics", and how he's a pimp. Nelly states that "It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes". Janet Jackson released an album called "The Velvet Rope", talking about her S+M fantasies. Justin Timberlake's biggest accomplishment is having sex with Britney Spears and then telling everyone about it. Somehow, had no boobage been shown, I doubt anyone would be complaining that this wasn't suitable family entertainment. Well, those people are oblivious idiots.
The media knows that "sex sells". The boundaries are going to keep getting pushed. You can keep getting outraged, which is counter-productive, or you can start teaching your children about the media and how it works, and how to intelligently consume media in a responsible manner. I know, maybe that's too much work. So go back to complaining and see how much it helps.
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