[Pokey78]

Peggy ping!

[WorkingClassFilth]

A man I once knew was fond of saying that there was nothing wrong with the country that a million executions wouldn't straighten out in a hurry. I'm beginning to see some wisdom in things I previously overlooked.

[old-ager]

> How? How to turn it around.

Revelation 1
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail[1] on account of him. Even so. Amen.

[Frank_2001]

Good article!

[jla]

^

[jolie560]

News, Music, Sports, and even the Weather Forecasts have become part of "Show Business".

"Show" business used to be a creative, artistic expression.
It was expressed and presented as "entertainment".

It's hard to tell any differences today.

[goodnesswins]

A word in Ms. Noonan's piece struck me...."mean"....she used it as in what something "means"......but, it makes me think of Sunday nights ridiculous behavior by the boob as MEAN.....nasty.....a kick in the gut when you're not expecting it. But, we'll see. Heck, maybe we'll elect another Democrat who can talk about his underwear to MTV and diddle interns in the Oval Office. Or, maybe not. We'll see. We are at a turning point, that's for sure.

[over3Owithabrain]

My in-laws are as liberal as they come, and very dismissive of "prudes" and the Christian right. Yet y'all should hear what they have had to say about that halftime display. One direct quote from mom-in-law: "It's a shame EVERYTHING has to be about sex now". She has many teenage piano students and spoke of their mutual outrage and disgust over that debacle. Perhaps dear Peggy is right - the frog has jumped and the worm is turning...

[Wild Irish Rogue]

Prediction- there will be a standing " O " at the first mention of Janet and (as Peggy refers to him),the retarded Justin Timberlake, at the Grammys. The only question is whether CBS will edit out the ovation.

[thegreatbeast]

Tell you what, the first sign that ANYTHING has changed is whether or not the two "artistes" are still allowed further exposure on the Grammys. My bet is that they will.

[JoeSixPack1]

Shame.

It has been erased from our society

If any of these sleaze buckets that consider themselves entertainers had the slightest capacity for shame, the legion of the offended could finally relax.

Timberlake & Jackson can apologize till the cows come home, but the offensive nature of their actions remain shamefully unapologetic in lieu of the premeditated secrets they kept during rehearsal.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

What do you mean "we" kemosabe?

I have never contributed to any of the Jackson's enterprises, do not buy rap music, and will not support trash like Elizabeth Taylor, etc.

[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".

[ECTO_1]

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

[Ronzo]

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

Took the words right out of my mouth.

[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.

[Timesink]

This just in: Michael Jackson caused 9/11!

[GretchenEE]

For Peggy:

[hopespringseternal]

How to turn it around. I wonder if all the sane adult liberals and conservatives couldn't make progress here. But how. Readers?

Tune it out. Give up the false hope that they are going to surprise you with something decent. Why tune in to a bunch of rap artists? You had to know the superbowl halftime show was going to be a trip through the gutter by the people producing it and the entertainers they chose.

I don't even bother to watch the local news anymore. They are increasingly becoming irrelevent to the world real people live in, real people just need to realize that fact.

[ArrogantBustard]

saw the big picture of Justin Timberlake, whose expression could have been described as evil if his face had more intelligence, turned toward Janet Jackson, whose face showed an equally evil expression. The whole thing, however highly sexualized, wasn't in the least bit (to me, anyway) sexy, erotic, or beautiful. It seemed to me wierd, perverse, and most strikingly mechanical and dehumanized. It seemed to me that the performers felt some sort of obligation to show off their privates, but had no clue how to present themselves in an appealing manner.