1sen·si·tive
adj \ˈsen(t)-sə-tiv, ˈsen(t)s-təv\
Definition of SENSITIVE = : highly responsive or susceptible: as a (1) : easily hurt or damaged; especially : easily hurt emotionally
So apparently Justin Moore and Miranda Lambert are upset
with Ashton Kutcher for “making a mockery” of country music when he attended
the Academy of Country Music awards ceremony the other day. (I know, I don’t care
either, but I’m trying to make a point…bear with me)
Kutcher and his 2 stage mates were dressed up in some old fashioned country garb I’m not sure any cowboy ever wore, (except for Big and Little Enos from Smokey and the Bandit)
http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2012/04/justin-moore-ashton-kutchers-acm-performance-was-a-mockery.html
Kutcher and his 2 stage mates were dressed up in some old fashioned country garb I’m not sure any cowboy ever wore, (except for Big and Little Enos from Smokey and the Bandit)
and he tried to sing some George Strait song. (Poorly I
might add). Moore and Lambert were “tweeting”
(like that’s a valid news feed) their feelings about him when Moore had this to
say:
"Seen Ashton Kutcher at the ACMs tonight. What a douche! I don't care for people making a mockery of the way country artists dress."
Earth to Justin. This is Ashton Freaking Kutcher we’re talking about. You know, the Punk’d guy? The “Dude, Where’s My Car?” genius?
Kelso? Cmon Mr. Moore, "douche" is
actually his middle name! Who are you trying to kid??
Did you really think he would show up in a tux and just prance about at
your precious awards show without cracking a joke? You asked him to be who he is, and that's exactly what he did. Seriously, lighten
up.
On the heels of that stupid story, now I hear Burger King is
pulling its ad with Mary J Blige singing about some crispy chicken wraps
because it was deemed racist. (by who
I don’t really know, but I’m guessing its by some corporate Wendy or McDonalds type looking to Torpedo anything BK does)
Racist?
Really? Because a black woman singing
about fried chicken has nothing to do with slavery, racial riots, lynchings or
segregation, does it? That stuff is
racism. Is there really someone out
there that feels this video is as bad as any of the stuff that happened to blacks
in the era of say, the Civil War? I doubt anyone would think so, yet here they
are using the same term to define a black woman singing about fried chicken as
they would about a lynching in the Mississippi woods. Not only is this ad NOT
racist, it’s not even mildly offensive. It’s about chicken for crying out loud, so get
over it. If this commercial were truly
offensive, wouldn’t you think Mary J would be the first one to stand up and say
so? Undoubtedly there are several other black folk working on this commercial
for BK too. Does their opinion that the ad is NOT racist, count for anything?
I watched that video about 15 times now and not once did
I ever see or hear anything prejudice being said or done. Of course in typical fashion however, Burger
King is backpedaling saying the ad was unfinished and has consequently pulled off
of YouTube, claiming some licensing agreements “hadn’t been met”. (Because corporate America has no backbone) I don’t know about you, but in my professional
career, whenever I post anything public on behalf of my company ANYWHERE, it
goes through a rigorous and intense review process by a number of different
people. That’s done to ensure all the
Ts were crossed, and i’s dotted. And if any licensing were involved, it became an
even more stringent process, taking nearly twice as long to complete because of
the lawyers involved. So we’re supposed to believe a that Burger King, 4
BILLION dollar company, just happened to let this video slip past its posting
board AND its licensing/legal department and found it way on YouTube unfinished??? Yeah,
umm..ok. Good thing you cleared that up BK. For a
minute there I was sure you took it down for fear of actually offending someone.
(psssstt…..you know taking it down only lends credibility to the stupid claim
its racist, don’t ya? Why else would you remove it?)
Here’s the thing.
If we the people, we the media, and we the corporations, keep this up – this
being so hypersensitive to every minute detail, every breath and every
utterance of syllables – we will not only lose our ability to use context to
help define situations and sub meanings, but we will create riffs between
everyone so deep and so wide, we will never
be able to bridge the gap. (I’ve
already told myself I’m no longer talking to Justin Moore, so I can feel it
starting already) At some point, this
has to stop.
Perhaps we can start with the media. If the media could actually employ some judgment
when they decide what they report on, skip the bias and political party
pandering, maybe they wouldn’t feed the same fire of intolerance, contempt and
resentment we are trying to combat. Hows that for an idea?
Perhaps we can go move on over to the corporations. If they actually stood up for what they
believed to be true and stop bowing down at the threat of someone being
offended, then maybe it would stop those morally reprehensible people from
trying to make a name for themselves on some stupid claim of a jingle
condemning who they are.
But as it always does, it really comes down to people. People need to want to change in order for it
to happen. It’s taken a lot of years to
get to where we are with race in this country and it’s not perfect, but I like
to think we make strides every day toward equality. If we don't stop crying wolf over issues like this, what’s going
to happen when an issue arises with which we really need to deal?
I’ll leave you with some advice. (I use the term loosely) If you are going to be upset about what Ashton Kutcher is wearing, keep your
stupid thoughts to yourself. You
represent the entire country music industry when you make public
postings like that (Twitter is public people!) and I’m willing to bet none of
them really want Justin Moore being their
mouthpiece. Also, if you are going to
start using the word racist to define everything you personally may not like,
or find even mildly offensive, then you need to take a look at who you are as a
person. You’ve got some serious self
esteem and confidence issues if your thin skin allows a dumb commercial to define
who you are. In either case, stop taking yourself so seriously and do what you can to improve the situation instead of complaining about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment