I’ve been confused by the amount of Victorian era swooning on the part of corporate executives and Bush administration officials alike on the half-time antics at this year’s Super Bowl.
Viacom, the owner of CBS and MTV, can hardly lay claim to good taste or restraint. Flooding the airwaves with misogyny and adolescent sexual fantasies is nothing new. Even the Bible thumpers on Pennsylvania Avenue have shown little interest up to now in reining in giggle, jiggle or wiggle.
Quite honestly, I was more angry with CBS at censoring Move.On’s political ad contest winner, which showed a series of sad-eyed children laboring at menial jobs to make the point about the long-term impact of Young Master Smirk’s gigantic federal deficit.
Then, adding insult to injury, CBS agreed to air what looks like a series of obfuscations and lies produced by YMS’s henchmen to justify the “break the bank” giveaway to pharmaceutical companies in the form of the new Medicare prescription drug “benefit”.
Edward R. Murrow, who built his career at CBS, must be rolling over in his grave.
But I digress: I’ll admit that I’m an out-of-date Yankee prude. It makes me queazy to witness private behavior in public places, whether it’s Gay Pride Weekend in San Francisco or commercials in which dirty old man grabbing their nurses’ rear ends is showcased as the height of wit.
Maybe for that reason, I’ve been secretly delighted that AT LAST there is a firestorm building about inappropriate content on television in particular.
A friend sent a link to a column by Derrick Z. Jackson of the Boston Globe that is a pretty good read on this topic, bordering on hysterical screed perhaps, but it states the case better than anything else I’ve seen so far.