Category Archives: Pop-Culture

Paglia Prattles On Pop Music

Music, Pop-Culture, The Zeitgeist

The pronouncements of the once-interesting Camille Pagilia have grown rather obtuse. How bland has she become? You be the judge. What she says here about “CrotchGate” is as worn and uninteresting as anything Gloria Steinem might muster.

Paglia has always substituted symbolism for substantive assessment in the realm of art. Remember her clapped out claptrap about the significance of drag-queen iconography? This awful error has led her to evaluate Madonna as “an authentic, creative artist.”

Madonna cannot sing or compose a song worth hearing. Like most pop “musicians” today, she is a product of the visual medium: first the video, then the DVD. If you were unable to see these “artists,” you’d not want to hear them. I suspect that their image alone has, over the years, supported CD sales. And of course, the masses habituate to the thump-thump studio-engineered racket that substitutes for a voice, instrumental arrangements, and chord progression in a Madonna or Britney ditty.

Every “recording” artist today is drawn from a highly biased sample, where T & A are the prime criteria for selection, not musical ability. Janis Ian’s “Seventeen” would never have been recorded today; she’d have flopped. In music nowadays, the visual, not the auditory, is the medium.

Paglia blathers about the mismanaged sexuality of well-worn, ugly monsters like Britney Spears. (And the media mock Tom Cruise, a man of 44, for his double chin. Have you seen the chins on the big, flat, expanses that make up Britney’s mug?) The Porn Aesthetic is at work here, not the sensual.

The notion of Paglia as a sharp cultural commentator finally evaporated when she called Condoleezza Rice a brilliant woman. The woman, Condi, has not even been able to fulfill the minimum requirements of her office, much less demonstrate brilliance.(Her last official “remarks” are quite good…for a 12-year-old.)

Donald Trump, who, shall we say, has a good sense of what would fly in the private sector, said of the Secretary of State that she was a lovely woman, but that she “goes around to other countries and other nations, negotiates with their leaders, comes back and nothing ever happens.” He’d have fired her, that’s for sure.

In any event, I’ll no longer be following Paglia too closely (her eventual evaluation of the blogosphere came well after mine and only echoed what I had said in “The Importance of Boundaries“).

Fun in Kazakhstan

America, Britain, Bush, Film, Pop-Culture

Sasha Baron Cohen, alias Ali G, is a British comedian and the creator of Borat, “a bumbling Kazakh TV presenter.” Borat’s exploits in the US are something to behold. Simply brilliant comedy, as in the time he asked a dating agency for a woman with plowing experience. Or when he sang his country’s anthem at an American sports match. The mournful wail went on for at least 20 minutes. His American spectators, bless them, were very patient. And what about “throw the Jew down the well“? That’s the infectious sing-along Borat began in a Texas bar. A classic.

By having fun at Kazakhstan’ expense, Borat (who has quite the bottom, if I say so myself) has created an international incident. Read how George Bush might get involved.

Griffin The Great

Celebrity, Hollywood, Media, Political Correctness, Pop-Culture, The Zeitgeist

While not very many smart people are genuinely kind, very many kind people are truly smart. As Oscar Wilde reminded us, “kindliness requires imagination and intellect.” In Kathy Griffin, my favorite comedian, imagination and intellect have combined to yield a great deal of kindness. Her visit to Iraq to cheer the troops lay bare just how kind—and perceptive—she really is.

Griffin’s interactions with the broken Sgt. Adkins—he had just survived a mortar attack that took the life of his fiance and best friend—were achingly sensitive. (She did, of course, ask him if they were giving him any good drugs.)

About the unnecessary war, she said: “The more I’m in an actual war zone, the more it’s just ugly. It’s not cool, it’s not a Toby Keith song; it’s not opening up a can of whoop-ass. It’s just horrible. I don’t know. Is it really worth losing so many of our own?”

Griffin’s account of the Iraq tour on her Bravo Blog is entitled, “I Came. I Saw. Iraq.” But just in case you get the wrong idea, she quickly clarifies parenthetically: “(Which is different than “I saw Iraq. I came.” Which did not happen. Because, like I said—that place is a s**t-hole.)”

I love her to bits.

Updated: Manners As Virtue

Ethics, Etiquette, Media, Morality, Pop-Culture

George Will once wrote that “manners are the practice of a virtue. The virtue is called civility, a word related—as a foundation is related to a house—to the word civilization.”

Will’s column, “Manners and virtue in a modern world, suggests that the ability to be courteous, kind, and mindful of etiquette in dealing with others is a reflection of something far more meaningful: one’s mettle.

Maybe this is why, other than hate mail, I respond to all letters I receive—to each and every one. Due to time constraints, my replies are laconic. But if someone bothers to read and comment on what I have to say, then it’s only decent to acknowledge the gesture. I haven’t always been firm in this resolve, but I try my best. If colleagues write, I always reply, whether I like them and their stuff or not.

Most pundits, however, don’t reply to their mail. That smacks of hubris and pride, almost always unwarranted. The younger sorts are plain punks. Since most are so uninspiring and mediocre, one wonders what they’re playing at, and why they’re not more modest.

Golda Meir’s zinger, “Don’t be so humble, you’re not that great,” is a relic from a time when false humility was at least still practiced. We’ll have to settle for something less clever. Can’t be bothered to answer your mail? “Don’t be so arrogant, you suck.”

P.S. The very popular and busy Dr. Daniel Pipes is polite. If you write to him, he’ll find the time to answer your questions. If I think of anyone else who rates a mention, I’ll update the post.

P.P.S. Pipes, ever the gentleman, sent this note: “What a nice refuge from the usual vulgarity! I completely agree with you that correspondents deserve a reply, even if a short one. And the quote from Golda Meir is beautifully apt.”

Update: I promised above to remind myself, as a “refuge from the usual vulgarity,” to use Dr. Pipes’s words, of the fine—and refined—individuals I do encounter along the way. Television ensures that the brainless, loud, airheads, whose intellectual output is as significant as a foghorn’s, loom large. They should not. So here’s a low-key shout-out to the brilliant and nice people I’ve had the pleasure to e-meet since I penned this post: Robert Spencer, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades),” Andrew Bostom, author of the Legacy of Jihad, and historian Bat Y’eor of the Eurabia fame. And yes, on the entertainment side, the irrepressible Michael Musto of the Village Voice. Nice people all.