Peggy Noonan: Janet Jackson and the Frog

Opinion Journal ^ | 02/05/04 | Peggy Noonan

[Pokey78]

Has our culture gone iredeemably to pot, or can we jump for our lives?

On Saturday night Sept. 8, 2001, I did something unusual. I went to Madison Square Garden to watch the taping of a Michael Jackson special that was soon to be aired on CBS. A friend had come to town with tickets and we decided to meet for dinner and go together. We thought it would be fun because we thought it would be strange.

[lara]

I'm so sick of hearing, "Get over it." That's what the dems said the entire time clinton was in office. I have a hard time believing you're a true conservative.

[thesummerwind]

You simply ask, "Why do we care about a womans breast?" How foolish.

"The issue isn't nudity but the implicit endorsement of acting out male fantasies of violent and invasive non-consensual sexual behavior. Never mind the message it sends to international audiences--say young, angry Muslims, to pick a random example, who may have been wondering whether America really is immoral." He added that this year's game was telecast to 229 countries and territories, including China for the first time."

The total tonage of ignorance of some is always a curiosity.

[gcruse]

How to turn it around? Well, we've pretty well made everything illegal already and filled the jails. Maybe this isn't something we should be legislating onto each other.

[bonfire]

I've been pondering the same question all night. Even to the point of writing a "rant" in my head. It seems EVERY aspect of our lives is inundated with pure garbage.

Sometimes silly things get me going: tonight my teenage daughter said her English teacher uses the phrases "pissed off" "freakin'" and "friggin'" all the time. At the bottom of his monthly info email to parents is the quote: ' "There is no right way to live"- Ishmael.'


Maybe I'm just getting old, but my tolerance threshold is inching towards "POSTAL".

[nopardons]

But America has a HISTORY of regulating PUBLIC morality/decency. Why not bring it back now? You don't have to jail anyone; it can just be banned, as it used to be.

[ECTO_1]

I'm not normally a person who cares what others think, however I am embarrassed at our social reputation throughout the world.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

What I'm growing tired of is the "apologies" which aren't really apologies. "I'm sorry if anyone was offended," is still not accepting responsiblity.

Why don't some of these retrobates say, "I am sorry I offended people. I was stupid. I didn't think about the children watching, and I should have. I was wrong. Period. I'm ready to take my lumps, in fact, I think I should just retire to cover my head in shame. You won't be seeing me any more. Goodbye."

[It's me]

I really think we are very ready for "The Movie."

20 more days and it's here. It will change a whole heck of a lot of people.

[kayak]

Amen!!!

x42 was the master of the non-apologetic apology. I never heard him say he was sorry for any of his sleazy and/or illegal behaviors (from the extracurricular activies in our White House to his lying under oath); yet he constantly told us that he had already apologized. And all of those who made excuses for him also contended that he had already apologized and we should just "move on."

Well, it seems that we have moved on .... to more and more blatant behavior of the most decadent kind. Civility, decency, a sense of certain matters being personal and private, respect, common courtesy, consideration of others .... all seem to be waning at an alarming rate.

[Tall_Texan]

We're reaching the bottom of the slippery slope and some people may just now be waking up and thinking they can still break the fall. Let me clue you in.

In started in 1963 when the Supreme Court kicked God out of the classroom. It continued in 1973 when the Supreme Court made it legal to murder children in the womb. The Bohemian left took over our entertainment industry, followed by drugs, rape, and the celebration of every debauchery under the sun. Just today, the Massachusetts Supreme Court declared under no uncertain terms that men can legally marry other men and be accorded all the same legal protections as heterosexual married couples.

And one flashing breast at a football game is going to change that?

It's just a speed bump on our way down the slope. The only turning will be when Our Lord returns and asks what we've been doing with ourselves.

[Ophiucus]

It's not about a woman's breast and I don't buy the 'glorify rape' overreaction.

It's about something completely crass and tasteless where it simply doesn't belong. The show was bad, it was oversexed, there were nasty dancers in nasty little outfits, and it culminated with a completely idiotic stunt of a gratuitous titty flash in the middle of 'family hour.' If that's what you bought a ticket or tuned in for...fine.

There we get to the crux of the matter. If people want tasteless TV and bare breasts, they have numerous channels on cable and satellite to slake their thirsts or not watch and block the channels out from their kids, etc. But the control is there - to see or not, to make sure the kids don't see...or not. The content is in their control.

An audience of moms, dads, and kids going to the game or watching together with a barbecue or chili cook out don't have that control. They watch the game - that's what they're there for in the stadium or in front of the tube, and they endure the commercials for the game, and sit through a half-time show for the game. Once upon a time, half time shows were marching bands, a hall of fame presentation, something mildly entertaining and innocuous - filler until the 3rd quarter.

This time, an audience was bombarded with a show out of control. Want to watch the game - have to stay in the stadium or stay glued to CBS, it's counting down to kick-off. Hello breasts.

That's where the outrage stems - if MTV/CBS wanted to launch a R or X rated music performance channel, fine, people would know what to expect when they tune in and it would be their choice. But for the halftime of a football game? People did not choose the sex-you-up strip-off.

An entire worldwide audience was treated to something they could not control....in a culture giving every sign that it is out of control.

[Ronzo]

"The whole thing, it's just a freak show."

Took the words right out of my mouth.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

x42 was the master of the non-apologetic apology.

Wasn't he ever!

I, too, am getting tired of the "move on" admonition.

[thesummerwind]

I, too, am getting tired of the "move on" admonition.

yeh, and "at the end of the day".

[thoughtomator]

First, let's establish that the Superbowl, as a cultural event, is more than simply the culmination of the NFL's football season.

The Superbowl is a cultural event, a marker for the year, of Americana in all its glory. It is also of particular interest for advertising - indeed, many watch the Superbowl specifically because of the advertising, not for the football.

What the event said this year is that the culture of America has degenerated into nothing but violence and sex and grade-school bathroom humor. One could not tell at all the magnificence of our musical and artistic history... this was pure bread and circus.

I actually felt ashamed that this program that I really wanted to watch - the Superbowl - came in such a sleazy package. I felt dirty about it, and I'm glad I missed the most scandalous part of the halftime show.

That feeling of revulsion to the content of the ads and the entertainment was so strong, I'm not surprised to find that it was felt also by many others.

[thoughtomator]

But of course, let's not lose perspective on it... the real story of the Superbowl is that it was a really great game.

[japaneseghost]

Plain and simple. To the millions of little children who were watching, it was an ASSAULT of a woman at the Super Bowl. A celebrated assault! Plain and simple.

I totally agree, but there is one GOOD thing I have observed from all this crap...

NO ONE has noticed that it was a white man assaulting a black women...no mention of race... We're certainly deteriorating on the sexual moral side, but gaining on the racial equality side.

STILL, I really wish Janet had kicked Justin's ass off the stage, while singing in rhythm...

What a message of empowerment that would have been to little girls everywhere.

[Timesink]

For a while after 9/11 we seemed to sober up. There seemed a new seriousness. It wasn't heavy and somber, there was a lot of humor and wit, but we were perhaps a little chastened, a little sobered up. A little more mature. Sept. 11 was such a shock to the national system that after it the culture's long slide into narcissistic netherworlds seemed momentarily stopped, or at least slowed. But it's picked up again.

Remember "The End of Irony"? That only lasted to about 9/16 or so.

[little jeremiah]

LOL! I like your comment. I also liked this statement:

"saw the big picture of Justin Timberlake, whose expression could have been described as evil if his face had more intelligence..."

Yup, frog in pot. Only some people think it's a nice hot tub.

[Timesink]

She has many teenage piano students and spoke of their mutual outrage and disgust over that debacle.

A woman called into Hannity's show today, who said she has two teenage daughters, both of whom were disgusted with the Super Bowl debacle, as were all their friends ... and they live in MADISON, WISCONSIN.

The tide is turning, even if only because teenagers like to rebel against what society tells them they "have" to be. And right now, society is telling them they "have" to be immoral slutty liberals. Thus, they become the exact opposite.

The change will be slow, but it's coming.