Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Monday, February 02, 2004

Lights Out

For those who are unaware of the actions of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at the end of last night's Super Bowl halftime show, you will likely need to update yourselves on the topic before the material in theis blog makes sense. For the rest of you, read on.

In a previous entry into this web log I noted what I veiwed as a trend in popular media culture to grab the spotlight in any way possible to continue one's fame and notoriety. I mentioned the idea as put forth in the film Chicago and displayed by Michael Jackson in his now infamous interviews. Following that blog was "the kiss" at the MTV Music Awards between Madonna and Brittney Spears. This was an obvious and somewhat offensive attempt to grab the spotlight by an old veteran of the tactic and her alcolyte. What happened last night was the next step in the progression. What Timberlake and Janet Jackson did was inexcusable in my mind but totally consistent with the idea of grabbing the media spotlight in any way possible.

Both "artists", MTV, CBS, Viacom and the NFL deny something or oanother about the incident. The artists claim that the action was uninentional or a wardrobe malfunction. Yet, Timberlake was singing "I'm going to get you naked before this song is over." If there was an equipment malfunction I expect that it was that only one breast was exposed and not her entire torso. MTV (who produced the halftime show and, obviously, the MTV Music Awards) claims to not have known that the incident was going to take place (thereby implicating the artists' intnetional action) but earlier promised "shocking moments" during the show. CBS says that it had no idea what fellow Viacom company MTV was going to do (again implicating the "lower" party) but Matt Drudge reports that a highly placed source inside the network claims that the network's executives green lighted the entire deal days before the actual event. As for the NFL, it claims shock and disgust and says MTV will not produce another halftime show (my question is, given what they've produced in the past, was this any huge surprise? Maybe the NFL will get "Girls Gone Wild" to produce their next show). With the exception of the NFL, each level up on the food chain blames the action on the critters below it.

So, what to do? Hand-wringing isn't going to do much. The FCC is going to investigate but I doubt they'll get too far. If they do I hope they fine CBS $1 for every viewer subjected to the show nationwide. That'll get "TV's Most Watched Network" in proportion to their sin. However, it won't stop the artists from seeking publicity. An indecent exposure charge from the City of Houston on Timberlake and Jackson would be nice too, though a little fine and some possible jail time won't do much to curb the publicity seekers. Besides, the whole thing stinks to me of hoping someone else will do the work for me and those who agree with me. The obvious solution is to hit the offenders financially. Don't buy records from Jackson, Timberlake, their record companies, etc and don't tune into MTV. This, however, won't send a signal in an immediate enough way in my mind. So, I'm calling for a boycott of the Grammy Awards ceremony on CBS. All of the big spotlight seekers will be there, Brittney, Madonna, Christina, etc. Let's tune them out and turn off the spotlight. I'm asking everyone who reads this not only to boycott the Grammy Awards but also urge others to do the same from their blogs and websites.

This isn't about issues of Christian morality, though I have pretty strong feelings about that too. This is about being manipulated. It's about a huge media conglomerate believing that the people of this world will buy that a woman's main value is in her actions as a sexual object. Several female artists are complaining that they are being pressured to conform to a much more strongly sexual image than they'd like. While one might say that they should be able to stand up for themselves, it's a lot easier for us all to stand together against the male neandertals who run Viacom/CBS/MTV. Let's stand up and tell them that we won't be manipulated into thinking that sex is all that's important. Turn off the spotlight!

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