2004-02-16 - 11:25 a.m.

Email forwards are an excellent measure of society�s mediocrity. Sure, I�ve forwarded many things myself, but I choose carefully, only the things that I think are truly funny or worthwhile. Just now, I received a picture of Miss Piggy with one of her boobs hanging out a la Janet Jackson. I�ve kept quiet about my opinion on the Janet Jackson�s Boob Debacle until now, but I am finally ready to speak my mind.

I AM APPALLED!!!

Appalled to be an American, that is. It�s sad enough that the media has to make such an enormous spectacle out of Janet�s desperate grasp for publicity. But that Americans even give a rat�s about it in the first place is just indicative of how spoonfed and ignorant most of them are. They�re just jumping on the hoopla bandwagon because TV and the internet tells them they should be shocked by it by repeatedly showing it and obsessing over it. Okay, maybe if she�d brought up an infant or small animal and ripped it apart with her bare hands and then eaten it, then she would deserve all the attention she�s getting. But it�s a goddamn breast! We all have them! In Europe and South America, they�re shown every day without the slightest bit of regard. It�s almost as if the Bush administration set the whole thing up so that people could think about something else for a few days. America�s ideology of sex=scandal, violence=entertainment just makes me shudder to be American.

Another email forward I received at the same time was the most clich� Guy-Slamming / Woman Power thing I�ve seen since the last one I got just like it. You know how it�s been said of Taco Bell that they keep coming out with new menu items, but it�s really just the same exact 7 ingredients put together in a different order? Well, that�s like that joke. Guys don�t ask for directions. They hog the remote. They love their beer & sports. They don�t put the toilet seat back down. They don�t pick up after themselves. They don�t understand women. They�re not romantic. No matter HOW you formulate those same ideas, (in this case, it was a �humorous� outline of a seminar for guys followed by a list of Woman Power Bumper Stickers) it�s still BORING OLD CRAP. And the fact that people obviously find it funny enough to keep sending around just makes me die a little bit inside every time I read another one.

Have people ALWAYS been this brain dead or is it just a byproduct of these post-post modern, instant gratification, ubertechno-dependent times? I can�t imagine it�s always been this way, and I was too busy or disinclined to notice. I know there have been stupid movies, bad music, and annoying catchphrases throughout my life, but it really seems so much more ubiquitous now. Reality TV, newsmagazine shows, celebrity ultra-obsession, all of it. Pop culture has always been the lowest common denominator, but it seems like it�s gone beyond rock bottom. It�s dynamited its way down into even LOWER territory. It�s all just pounding pounding pounding into the skulls of people, and I�m scared of what they are accepting themselves becoming. My brain is too out of shape to even try to convey the Orwellian / Matrixy thoughts I am having at the moment. Ugh. Referencing the Matrix disgusts me beyond belief, but I think you know what I mean.

That is why though I do indulge in a bit of Poop Culture myself at times, I do it with my eyes wide open, I treasure the few things and people I�m able to find that are good and true and real.

previous - next