Posted on 01/02/2014 8:57:58 AM PST by SeekAndFind
All things considered, it was a year without shame.
It was the year that Miley Cyrus French-kissed a sledgehammer in the music video for her song “Wrecking Ball,” and cavorted naked on said wrecking ball. The former Disney star popularized the act of twerking in a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards that was so luridly infantile, it wasn’t outrageous so much as pathetic. Yet it worked. It gained her at least another 15 minutes of fame and probably more, to have people pay attention to other insipid things she might do, usually half-clothed. Cyrus made us yearn for the good taste and restraint of the era of Lady Gaga, not to mention the golden age of classic Britney Spears.
It was the year the president of the United States posed in a selfie with other foreign leaders at a memorial service for Nelson Mandela. He evidently had a grand time, but made us nostalgic for the period before our presidents posed in selfies with other heads of state, i.e., the long stretch of American history ending on December 9, 2013.
It was the year Anthony Weiner admitted in the midst of his New York City mayoral campaign that he had continued to sext after resigning from Congress for sexting. Under the delightfully absurd alias “Carlos Danger,” he had sent pictures of his private parts to a 22-year-old woman, whose notoriety instantly launched her career in adult film and as a spokesmodel for an adultery-facilitating website. Weiner made us fondly recall the self-effacing modesty of past New York City politicians like Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani.
It was the year that Toronto mayor Rob Ford denied smoking crack, before admitting smoking crack — probably “in one of my drunken stupors.” He blamed reporters for not asking “the correct questions” when he made his initial lawyerly denial, in which he had only said, “I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine.” He denounced a successful effort by the city council to strip him of most of his powers as a “coup d’etat.” While running around like a bull high on amphetamines during the raucous council debate, he knocked a woman down. The good mayor made us miss the decorum and straightforwardness of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.
It was the year Dennis Rodman nominated himself as goodwill ambassador to North Korea, touchingly pronouncing himself Kim Jong Un’s “friend for life.” He excused the dictator’s brutal rule by explaining that the Supreme Leader is only 28 years old. “The Worm,” as the former basketball player is known, made Jane Fonda’s infamous visit to North Vietnam in 1972 seem an effective, well-calibrated act of international diplomacy in comparison.
It was the year Lance Armstrong confessed to cheating in every single one of his Tour de France victories, after attempting for years to destroy anyone who had blown the whistle on his doping. He did the obligatory interview with Oprah as a first step to redemption. Armstrong made us miss the sportsmanship of Rosie Ruiz, who won the Boston Marathon years ago in record time by neglecting to run the entire course.
It was the year that New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez alleged a vast conspiracy encompassing most of Major League Baseball to bust him for using performance-enhancing drugs — again. The third baseman leads the league in misplaced sense of victimhood. Rodriguez made us long for the guilelessness of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.
It was the year something truly outlandish happened on The Real Housewives of Somewhere or Other. It was the year Mob Wives got crazy. It was the year that 16 and Pregnant descended into moral chaos. They all made us remember a time when Jersey Shore represented a more decorous, elevated form of reality television.
So good riddance to a year of shamelessness. It is sure never to be excelled — except by 2014.
— Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review.
That montage says it all. No wonder the rest if the world hates us. Look at who we embrace as celebrities (notice I did not say role models)
Rome
Let’s see...how does that quote go? (Oh yeah) “if God doesn’t judge America, He’s going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
It was the year America celebrated homosexual “marriage,” a practice endorsed by numerous self-proclaimed conservatives, including several big guns at National Review. Plenty of blame to go around here.
The biggest depravity is that cyrus’s career took off after her slutty performance. And that was her intention.
He has already judged the sins of America and the whole world on the cross 2000 years ago (1 John 2:2). To judge America’s sins again would be double jeopardy and unjust.
Billy is too stupid to realize his daughter is merely signing on for wholesale prostitution. or maybe ol’ Billy Ray doesn’t really care.
The most shameful thing any American received was getting the clap from nsa honcho Clapper lying to congress about the fact that every day the phone records of 300 million Americans including where they were when they made the call—are turned over to the government to do as they please—our new “writs of assistance” program the British and Stasi would have so loved to have.
Another one:
Either you’ll be governed by God,
or, by God, you’ll be governed.
This is why we’re losing our freedom.
Embrace the suck
What is Eric Holder hiding from in the one picture? Maybe he realized it was a MEMORIAL service and not a Miley Cyrus concert.
Best commentary article I have read in a long time.
Billy likes the attention and makes no apologies for Miley.
Grandpa was a Dem politician in Ky. It’s a family tradition.
Seconded
Dear Rich,
For one thing, it was January 13, not December 13, 2013.
Secondly, Toronto is not in the United States, so is not necessarily symptomatic of America, unless you include Canada, and also Mexico and the countries of Central America.
And you are helping Miley Cyrus by mentioning her name and wringing your hands over her drug-crazed dancing with her tongue hanging out, which people morbidly are attracted to the same way as bearded women in sideshows and circus clowns. That is the nature of humans, not America.
You can keep pointing out the lows to which a leftist media and the Hollywood elites have created a culture of depravity and immorality. That would be true, and warranted. But stop picking on America when people make themselves into fools.
So...can we call it the year of living shamelessly?
I am sure that it does not represent the absolute depths of depravity popular culture can express... just wait!
This makes me miss the 90s.
Back then we only had to really worry about explaining what a BJ was to kids.
Now they can give us a lecture on how gays have sex.
Back then we only had to really worry about explaining what a BJ was to kids.
I found it hard to explain what Bill Clinton did to my kids...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.