A Big Snit Over a Little Tit

I admit it. I had better things to do than watch the Super Bowl. Like shopping. In fact, I didn't even know about the Justin & Janet snow until doing my regular blog reading this morning. Of course, footage of the relavatory moment is available online, in numerous places.

Gallons of ink have already been spilled, mostly expressing outrage. An FCC investigation is about to be launched. My problem is that, aside from being so obviously planned (Who wears a pastie if they aren't planning on flashing something?) I'm at a loss to see why it's such a big deal? How does a simple part of the human anatomy get us into such an uproar? Are we that disgusted and offended by the human body? I mean, Li'l Kim let her breast hang out at the MTV Video Music Awards a few years a back, and even got felt up by Diana Ross, and everyone got a chuckle out of it, but there was no outrage. (How's that for "reach out and touch"?)

I know I generally fall into the "too liberal to be allowed to live" category, but I think the biggest crime here is that MTV, Justin and Janet chose the wrong audience. Apparently football viewers are an overwhelimingly conservative lot. They turned on the television to watch grown men tackling each other and knocking one another to the ground for hours on end, and instead they got flashed.

Dammit, they wanted violence, not sex. After all, this is a culture where we'd rather see two men shoot each other than kiss each other.

If there was anything objectional, it wasn't Jackson's breast, but the whole "ripping-off-a-woman's-clothes-as-entertainment" angle that should have been controversial. Would it have been as controversial if Jackson had done the bodice ripping, instead of Timberlake?

Maybe I'm missing several points here, but it seems like it says something important about Americans that we can get so worked up over seconds-long flash of a female breast, but not so outraged when, say, a president lies us into a war over weapons that never existed, and non-existant terrorist connections, costing the lives of hundreds of U.S. servicemembers and thousands of innocent civilians. Bomb third world countries all you like, give no-bid contracts to Bush-Cheney campaign contributors, mislead the country by fudging intelligence on WMDs, promote discrimination with a constitutional amendment, but for heaven's sake don't show us your breast. Geez.

I'm just sayin'.

Comments

[lane]

it really shouldn't be a big deal, but for the fact that it was the Super Bowl half time show. You kind of expect these things at the MTV Awards, but the Super Bowl?

The fury over it really shows how conservative this country is. I'm sure somehow Team Bush will turn it into an election issue.

An FCC investigation...now that's funny. Fox can claim to be fair and balanced, but Janet can't flash a breast. Fox is far more dangerous than Janet's breast.

[sam]

It's not a pastie, it's her nipple piercing, heh. I don't really see what the big deal is, I only posted my entry cause I got a hold of the pics just an hour or two after the game.

I do, however, LOVE it... cause I think CBS deserved some "indecent" exposure. Too many Americans are uber-prudes.

[Ara Rubyan]

Sam!

I got pinged. Could you please leave up the link to my blog? Thanks.

[EricBrian]

I got a call from a friend shortly before the half time show and so, I tuned in.

Growing up in Germany, you see nude people on TV, commercials and on poster boards. So, it didn't bother me. But, then, I realized that happened on American TV and I had to laugh.

No big deal, I say. :)

[Tim Who?]

Only in America?

Is this what we've become.

football
commericals
and
tits

None of which warrent front page news.

Time to stop and think.
Don't we have important things to do?