Is This The
Bottom?
By
Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC,
The questions are all so compelling: Did
Janet Jackson do it on purpose? Was it all planned,
or was it really a "wardrobe malfunction," as stated afterward by Justin Timberlake?
These are the questions
that are being asked by
the national media and by millions of citizens of
this country. We're hearing more information about "nipple
shields" than we'll ever want to know. And
not surprisingly, we're hearing far more about these
two performers after this incident than would have been the case
after a "normal" performance.
But with so much attention
being paid to the mind-numbing idiocy of this act, we seem
to have
lost touch with another, more sinister story.
While people spend their energy blaming two
artists who have no clue as to the impact of their
action, we've taken responsibility out of the
hands of a number of people who should know
better.
Somewhere in this mess
there are television executives who made the decision to present
a song
with the lyrics, "I'm gonna have you naked by the
end of this song."
In front of 89 million
viewers, and this was what they came up with.
Somewhere in Ohio, a man
with his 8-year-old daughter was watching the half-time show
of the
Super Bowl.
What does this father
say to his daughter after seeing this song performed on what
is probably the "biggest stage" in the world?
On a stage that's big enough to lend acceptability to these
kinds of
songs and lyrics?
After all, this isn't
some seedy video shown late on a weekend night. This is the
Super Bowl-this is
the showcase of American culture.
I hope that this father
would have the courage to talk to his daughter about the values
that are
important to him and how unhappy he was with the
half-time show. It's too bad that a conversation
like this would have to occur during the middle of
the biggest sporting event in this country.
And while this conversation
was happening, there were TV executives blaming Janet Jackson
and
Justin Timberlake for their "deplorable stunt."
I wonder if they have any young daughters at home?
Mark Brandenburg
MA, CPCC, is the author of "25
Secrets of Emotionally Intelligent Fathers".
For more great tips and action steps for fathers,
sign up for his FREE bi-weekly newsletter, "Dads,
Don't Fix Your Kids," at www.markbrandenburg.com.
