Posted on 02/05/2004 1:53:24 PM PST by Choose Ye This Day
Keeping Abreast of the Culture Wars
Yes, the Super Bowl half-time show was unfit for children to watch and just plain insulting to the rest of us. Most of the commercials made the humor from the movie Wayne’s World seem positively high-brow--old people being tripped, women being burned from torched horse flatulence, a monkey hitting on a woman.
But network television didn’t just fall into the sink hole overnight. This cultural slide has been happening for decades and for decades those who were trying to raise public awareness about it were branded a bunch of unhip philistines, throwbacks to the Ozzie and Harriet days. The elites are still howling at Dan Quayle’s “Murphy Brown” speech. They never forgave Tipper Gore for taking on the recording industry over the issue of violent lyrics.
To everyone who thinks that Team Tasteless has already won, I say nonsense. Imagine what the half-time show would have looked like if civic groups, churches, and citizens across the land hadn’t kept these issues alive for all these years! What we have learned is that public pressure does have an effect. By Monday, execs from MTV, CBS, the NFL, and many of their sponsors were falling all over themselves to express their (phony) shock and awe at the spectacle. MTV honcho Tom Freston feigned outrage, “We were ripped off. We got Punk’d [by Janet Jackson].” We don’t have to believe these ridiculous explanations, but the fact that they even felt the need to offer explanations is significant. These media companies felt the blowback in hundreds of thousands of telephone calls, email messages, and letters—not to mention a growing campaign to “delete” MTV from home remote controls.
Overworked and overtired Americans are making it abundantly clear. They are fed up with living in a cultural sewer, and that they want to hear their political leaders say something about it. Unfortunately, none of the candidates seems to get it. None of the Democrats expressed any real concern over the Toilet Bowl XXXVIII incident. In fact when Howard Dean was asked to comment, he said he was baffled by the hullabaloo and thought the FCC’s investigation was silly. President Bush slept through it. (A wise choice, but surely he had heard enough afterward to say something.) And where was John Edwards, who has supposedly built his whole campaign around “regular people”? Edwards doesn't seem to realize that the “regular people” needs help on these cultural issues.
All the candidates are missing a huge opportunity to connect with America. When Bill Clinton took on Sister Souljah it helped seal his image as “new” Democrat. John Kerry missed a major opportunity to do the same thing after the Super Bowl but he stayed on the sidelines. Is there any political figure who will dare wade into this territory? And if not, why not? Do the Democrats all really think like Dean - that these types of cultural struggles don't matter?
Many Americans feel helpless to stem the tide of trash floating their way—through their televisions, on magazine newsstands, and on the internet. Many have given up complaining because they believe no one listens anyway. Meanwhile, the elites continue to say that we are too prudish here in America—that we should take a lesson from Europe which has none of our hang-ups about nudity or profanity. They think we’re stupid enough to fall for this lame line. They are wrong.
We do not want to be subjected to inane, sexualized commercials for beer, ads for erectile dysfunction, or performers who substitute sexual fondling for singing. We admire real talent. We celebrate artists who do not spit on our values. We are sending the elites who think this is “no big deal” a very powerful message. We will not let you pollute our public airwaves any longer. We the People are not stupid. We the People are not complacent. We the People are capable of restoring decency to the culture.
And we will.
What the left knows is that intimidation works most of the time. They will be back to flash again. You'll see. (Unless Americans truly wake up. I'll be pleasantly surprised, but I'm not holding my breath.)
Overworked?
I like her optimism, but I do not share it. NBC ran a gay marathon and a campaign for gay marriage at the same time; not much has been said about that.
That's why I'm proposing an Al Franken "Love Train" that buys every member of the buttsex crowd a one-way ticket to Mass. I care not what goes in the Worker's Paradise on the Bay, just so long as they don't infect my state next.
That was a BIG disaster...
The guy in the lead kept stopping and bending over.....
I have NO need for all of the sexual innuendo stuff, but these two were hilarious...
The American farmer does the work of hundreds of 1900's people...It's called productivity...It's why we are the wealthiest country in the history of the world...
King Solomon couldn't imaging the luxury our "poor" people have...
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