Janet and Justin : (Superbowl 1/2 Time)

[ladynred]

Hey ya'll,
First off, this is not "ladynred" posting. This is her roomate "paranoid". Forgive me for hijacking her profile, but she's asleep and I don't want to take the time to register before I forget my already played-out little query.
-Is the controversy over Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's Superbowl halftime fiasco a big deal?-
What do you guys think?
My whole range of thought is summed up like this.
Anyone (i.e. parents of young children) should expect something like what happened Sun. night in primetime dramas, daytime soap-operas, MTV and it's award shows, mainstream TV, and print advertising, etc., but NOT DURING THE SUPERBOWL !! Think about this. The Superbowl should always remain "family entertainment". That does not include what doesn't offend you personally. Where will it end? I'm not a parent, but I would not want my impressionable 10 year old son (or daughter) to think what Jackson and Timberlake did was "cool" because adults didn't like it. Isn't that the way kids often determine what's cool? Don't get me wrong. I'm not all bent out of shape over this, but celebrities of all kinds need to be told (Jackson confessed) that you CAN NOT do whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want, without potentially SERIOUS consequences. FINE THEM ! and hope the message takes hold.

[Tammi]

Hi there Paranoid

Mike and I agree with you 100%. We dont think that CBS is to blame for what happened. It was out of there control. I think that Janet/Justin/MTV are the ones who should be responsible for paying the entire fine. My sister had her 2 kids watching the game, and her son Matt got an eyeful (he's 10, his sister is 4, but she wasnt watching). I think Justin was trying to "upstage" ex-girlfriend Brittney's tv French kiss with Madonna. I never cared much for him before or Janet before this, and I think even less of them now. Shame on both of them. There is a time and a place for "peep shows", but not on national tv in front of millions of people...especially children


/rant

[ladynred]

Hey guys..... this is the owner of the screename mentioned earlier in this thread. ;D

I just wanted to add to something that Paul was referring to regarding the reasons that he found Janet's careless stunt to be 100% wrong.....


The one question that everyone seems to overlook regarding this whole mess is this....

Where was I when this world unsurprisingly acheived its newest low by blowing the trust of millions who will now sit down to watch what is supposed to be a clean Super Bowl game with doubt as to whether they should roll the dice again or not? Why should we be backed further into the corner of hope and trust, which seems to be evolving into a very unstable, overcrowded, last ditch effort in the search for acceptance? We are the good guys ...so why are there so many more obstacles to overcome every year? Where do you draw the line? Is nothing sacred anymore? Can I sound more cliche? ;D
The root of the problem is always dutifully brushed aside. Although The Super Bowl is supposed to be an event that any family can watch without fear of any inappropriate content, face it girls.... it is still geared mostly toward men. Afterall, what man doesnt love sports? Shame on you, all of you PR Reps!!!! Yeah! Great Idea! Let's subject kids to innapropriate material in the process of trying to get through to the men!!What's a few innocent NOW CONTAMINATED minds safriced for the good cause? Two will grow back in it's place, no loss.
Well, as a result of your master plan...I now have to monitor The Super Bowl. And it is not an event anyone should have to question. This shouldnt even be the topic of the week. Why do we waste our time? The whole thing is absurd.
Answer me this: With the Super Bowl being such a big deal, there are MILLIONS of kids that will watch the game beginning to end... just like Daddy. So ..now when is it that they are most likely GLUED to the set? When they can see their favorite pop idol Britney Spears and N'Sync dancing on stage, THAT'S when!!

So Janet, knowing all the facts, the rumors, the public apologies and the massive amount of damage control that you have I'm sure been having to deal with....was your stunt worth it? It's a SPORTING EVENT!!

How far will the "Shock" Celebrities go until one day, our censorship laws will have slowly become more and more absurd due to the constant pressure the Supreme Court or whomever, will undoubtedly have to pawn off SOMEWHERE. Someone has to do it so when in doubt.... make a new law. Then dumb it down to tighten up that leash.
We have all witnessed it guys.... look around.

Case in point:
The warning label that came with my new hair dryer not long ago..... stated probably one of the funniest warnings I have ever heard..... The warning was said like this: Warning: DO NOT USE HAIRDRYER UNDER THE BED COVERS.

Wha Wha WHAT?? How absurd is THAT?

Well, if you think about it long enough.... your imagination starts to kick into high gear. My imagination told me his theory the other night.... that there is really only one acceptable reason behind this parculiar warning that the company seemed to feel they actually had to put into the spoken word....
*ding!ding!ding!*
I just figured it out! Duh.... someone must have done it at some point in the past (FOR WHAT? TO WARM YOUR FEET IN BED AT NIGHT?) Turns out... YES! It happened!

Anyway, once again I just drew this WAY TOO FAR. I get too detailed within the village of thoughts that make up Wendy Jones... therefore those of you who are listening, captive or not, get to take the brunt of my poor excuse of word regurgitaion.

So my point (Oh yeah, I was in the middle of a parable so I should be polite and get back to the subject at hand)....

Stupid lawsuit abuse has suceeded in making the US look like idiot weirdos. Any foreignor can pick up a copy of US Laws easy, and it wont take much for them to quickly conclude that our laws are dumb. But why is that? Because we are constantly having to tweak so as to head off the wave makers and lawsuit abusers. The outcome of those "tweaks" here and there, end up resluting in a very moronic sounding law that makes you have read it twice to test your lucidity cuz you cant believe our gov't had such little faith in us ...to feel they actually had to dumb it down and put it in writing (law) to prevent it from being broken as easily or simply to solidify guaranteed jail time attached to certain cases or charges. And WE have to bite our tongue and just take all the ribbing we experience since we ARE the face of America. We suffer all the related shots and comments and remarks since we look like dumbasses who are too wimpy to be trusted alone. Always have to have a leader there for guidance. Someone has to do it.... why not us? As long as the men-in-charge come out smellin like roses, who cares about the little people?

[Tammi]

[Sagan]

Well, since my opinion was asked for, let me put forward a few points.

1. It was absolutely wrong to do what they did. And personally, I think it was planned in advance and they knew exactly what was going to happen. Why did they do that? See point 2.

2. They did it because they knew the notoriety and publicity it would give them. Look what a HUGE deal the media made out of it. Over and over and over and over. The Daily Show did a great take on this. The boob itself was not a big deal. It's a boob. It's not going to maim or kill or corrupt children. Let's not get all terrified of the boob. But it WAS inappropriate and they should be punished.

3. Punishing Janet and Justin by making them the subjects of a week of intense media coverage is not exactly sending the right message.

[Jlew]

I have refrained from this thread becuase I have some pretty strong feelings on this issue. I most likely am going to get flamed for this....Oh well...I am just excersizing my first amendment right.

Here goes:

I personally was not offended by the Janet Flash, I feel that people have made a much bigger deal out of it then they should, which has caused many more children to become aware of the situation. If the issue is children and morals, then WHY are we still conjuring up so much coverage of it? Let JJ an JT pay the damn indecency charge and get on with your life!

I find it much more damaging for a child to see the dead bodies of Uday and Qusay on the news constantly, has anyone addressed that? Why wasn't the FCC involved with that for the "sake" of our children? We got a 2 second "pan" of a boob and the whole country goes up in arms......I mean c'mon, we are a country at war, your brothers and sisters are DYING, we have a President who LIES on national televison to YOUR children, and you are concerned about a boob flash that if you blinked it was over?

Also, may we mention some popular primetime T.V shows that show blatant sexual situations, drug use and partial nudity? I have seen things on REGULAR primetime that is definatly not appropriate for young people, and if you use the argument that the super bowl is supossed to completely family oriented programing, just look at the scantily clad cheerleaders and the coaches and players dropping F-bombs throughout the programming! Not exactly "family" programming....

Please don't get me wrong, I will agree that the boob flash was silly and stupid...offensive? No....

Bring on the flame..... I can handle it.  

[Baloo]

OMG! Someone write this day down in history....



I AGREE WITH JANA!  

[Jlew]

The bear agrees with me? OMG!!!  

[Tammi]

With all the hoopla over Janet's boob.......I was just wondering if anyone was upset over Kid Rock's defacing the American Flag?

[ladynred]

Sorry lady, your roomate has hijacked your profile again!
This is "paranoid" (Paul) and I am so glad to finally see more people reply to this thread.
I haven't even finished reading them all, but here is the next thought.
Of course, what Janet and Justin did wasn't anything new, but where will American's OBSESSION with personal "freedom of expression" end?!
"You can't legislate what doesn't offend ME" will eventually be our downfall!
Anyone remember "Sodom and Gomorrah" on the religious side, or EVERY empire before our measly little 228 year history on the historical side? Egypt, Rome, Great Britain?(We've only been a world power for about 80 years.)
Sorry, I don't like to be or seem condescending to people in general, but come on guys ! If we as a whole don't agree to reel ourselves in a little morally, [ I better not hear anything about the definition of "moral" from you Atheists. It's human, not religious. ] we will not succeed much longer.
As I stated, I am not overly concerned about this particular incident. We've all seen it before and worse. However, where do we draw any kind of line?
If the socially acceptable "it doesn't bother me" attitude has no limit, my answer is "Leave It To Beaver" followed by "The Brady Bunch" concluding with Diff'rent Strokes. (I know ALL about the real-world scandals!)
The blur between reality and what we prematurely subject our children to should have limits.
Are you gonna tell your 4 year-old at christmas, "Sweetheart, this tree means nothing and your presents came from Wal-Mart"?
.....[once again for any of you die-hard Atheists, if you take exception to my non-religious reference to the "christmas" season (no capital C), screw you. Teach your children to do what they "think" is right. Peace ! ;D

[ladynred]

Just finished reading the rest. Sorry
Hey Jlew,
You are absolutely right.
But,
BECAUSE SO MUCH OF T.V. et.al. IS SO SCREWED UP, DOES THAT MEAN WE CAN'T OR SHOULDN'T COMPLAIN ?? JUST LET IT GO ??
I feel your reasoning, albeit true, is defeatist.
Everything else you compare is more important to our society's children than Janet Jackson's boob.
However, does that mean just because there are worse things going on in the world we shouldn't complain about something more in our control? We can make a difference about what our children see during the Superbowl. Try taking your family to The Pentagon or Iraq and see if anyone listens. Sorry to sound harsh, but Congress, Viacom, MTV, and CBS did listen to the complaints of millions of Americans and are doing something about it. It worked, at least somewhat. We gotta draw lines where we can when we can. If you would go back and read my original post, you'd see my references to soap-operas, primetime, media in general, etc. My alluding to all that refers to what I feel is ALREADY a problem. Does that mean we should shrug off anything else? Mark my words! Our arrogance and decadence as Americans will be our downfall. I just hope it doesn't happen while I'm still alive. I fear it will.
P.S.- I ain't no angel either!

[ladynred]

Baloo,

paranoid, again

I agree with Jlew also. But.....

Think about things you DON'T agree with (in general), then try to see someone else's point of view. There are alot of things I side with that I feel are bad for our society as a whole.

[Jlew]

Paranoid:

I certainly respect your point of view. However I would like to bring up a few points.

BECAUSE SO MUCH OF T.V. et.al. IS SO SCREWED UP, DOES THAT MEAN WE CAN'T OR SHOULDN'T COMPLAIN ?? JUST LET IT GO ??

The thing is...we have complained...LOUDLY. It's been so loud that fo rall those kids who didn't see the huh bub surrounding this, certainly does now. The kids are absoulutely talking about it, where as if the media hadn't made such a huge issue out of this, then maybe our kids would move on and not have parents freaking out that their child saw an exposed breast.

The issue that I have is that, if we are going to fine JT and JJ and make such huge hoopla, then it should be the same thing for other programs.....they should all be treated the same. Here's an example, I was glancing through the channels the other day and happened upon "That 70's show" It showed the kids appearing in a cloud of smoke and acting as if they were stoned, slit eyes and laughing...etc..etc... This was primetime television....now tell me...was blatant drug use okay for children? Whats the difference? Nicole Richie blurted out "shit" at the billboard music awards...No hoopla.

I am also a little worried as to why a bared breat is so horrible. Europe is laughing at us right now. There is nothing wrong with our bodies....god made them, why is it so shameful? Why are we teaching our children that they are going to be fined and humiliated in public if they show any part of their body? Ridiculous!

I agree that there are many things wrong with our society, I agree with you paraniod that our moral fiber is has decayed alot. However, I think that our children have a lot of other things to think about than one bared breast..... think about a soilders family, their daddy is far away fighting a stupid war....now think about that bared breast.....what's huge here?

The FCC has already fined JJ and JT... the delay has now been implemented on live programs. Public apologies have been made....... it's over.

[Baloo]

Jlew said:

Nicole Richie blurted out "shit" at the billboard music awards...No hoopla.

For some reason, people seem to think when you see something with your eyes, it's not as bad as hearing something with your ears. I always thought hearing something is worse than seeing though. Seeing, you can look at, and then forget. Hearing, you actually have to use brain power to process, therefore it tends to remain in your mind longer. (Hope that makes sense)