Out on the Op- LP: Mediocrity All 'Round

Brainwashed by the military
Brainwashed under duress
Brainwashed by the media
You're brainwashed by the press
Brainwashed by computer
Brainwashed by mobile phones
Brainwashed by the satellite
Brainwashed to the bone 
--Brainwashed, George Harrison 

Don't be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it, then you shoulda put a ring on it
--Single Lady, Beyonce 

She rocked out to Wham
Not a big Limp Bizkit fan
Thought she’d get a hand
On a member of Duran Duran 
--1985, Bowling for Soup
 _____________________

Happy Sunday and welcome to RangerAgainstWar's occasional feature, Out on the OP - LP.  Like we said, the concept is that this is a free-fire zone.  We welcome any and all comers to express what's on your mind, and feel free to ask for advice, forgiveness, whatever.  We'll do our best.

We will kick-start this with a question about values and mores:

According to Gallup polls, Hillary Clinton is the Most Admired Woman in History.  Her husband and former President Bill Clinton was named Father of the Year for 2013. Exactly what is it about the sly Hillary or the adulterous Bill that should garner such admiration? 

First Lady Michelle Obama is #2 on the Most Admired list.  Granted, she can do the Dougie, yes, but what else beyond sporting designer dresses whilst on European holidays? And yes, First Ladies like Jacqueline Kennedy also sported fine duds, but she did NOT do The Watusi; there was a certain decorum. Call me old fashioned, but can we not think back past our current year to find exemplars? 

Upon whose head can we rest these fetid laurels of ushering in our current mediocrity?  Surely President Reagan was the triumph of veneer over substance.  Before him, President Nixon's stating that he was "not a crook" despite evidence to the contrary was a hard dosage of collective cognitive dissonance.  Certainly President Clinton's saxophone playing on Arsenio Hall was an unnecessary plea to cool in a job which did not demand that quality. Perhaps the office of the President is not the only place to look for the genesis of our current state.

Moving from Most Admired to Most Ogled, Beyonce Knowles has been voted by Gentleman's Quarterly as "Sexiest Woman of the Century" (of course, with another 87 years to go in the century, she may not be able to maintain her hold.)  The singer is all about being "fierce, a term co-opted from the gay community associated with attitude. 

Beyonce, who was chosen to perform for the plum Super Bowl 2013 halftime show, is quoted as saying she works very hard on her craft, but her craft is not songwriting; it IS shaking her moneymaker, in ways that would make a pole dancer blush. She says, "And one thing about me: I practice ’till my feet bleed," admitting she is basically a hoofer.

So we choose to admire this women whose seductive-nee-salacious moves would be considered ghetto whore type stuff a few years back, and yet she serves as a model for many a young girls today. Christine Aguilera's belly-baring get-ups and Madonna's faux-Monroe, Like a Virgin poses are tame compared to Beyonce, who is consistently working her thing in every video and performance.  This stuff would have been labeled "pornography" a decade or so ago.

Beyonce's progenitors, like Britney Spears, certainly worked it, too, but their performances at least had some variety in terms of costuming and coverage.  For Beyonce, it is full-on lack of nuance crotch shots all the time.

In other entertainment, we love our brutal films, yet decry the violence in our society.  Can there be no valid linkage made without being dismissed as hopelessly Old School?

And what is it with "reality" television programs like "Honey Boo Boo"? Being in the South, we can understand the unfortunate necessity of listening to such people should one have the grave misfortune to live in rural McIntyre, Georgia.  But for the rest of us?  What is the excuse?  There are magazines and books to read, good films and documentaries at the library ... What's up with that?

We'd love to hear your thoughts on any of it.  (I'm going out now to shake this off of me, yet my chores entail a trip to Costco, where I shall be exposed to even more of it.  If you can assist in expunging the above infestations, I'd be much obliged.)

It looks like Lucy is seeking counsel, herself.