The Reveal

"The Reveal"

Sounds charming and seductive, doesn't it? Absolutely opposite of the shameful display that was Janet Jackson's performance at the Superbowl Half-time show. Thankfully, I didn't see it, didn't even know about it until the next day. On Tuesday, I was sucked into the public debate.

I don't normally listen to morning talk shows. I think they're boring and silly, and I'd much rather listen to music when I'm half asleep and trying to wake up. The Tuesday after the Superbowl, though, I had 95.5 on, WPLJ for all you Tri-Staters, and they were going on and on about Janet Jackson, none of them upset by it. One of the hosts said it was a generation thing (more on this later) that was causing the debate. I continued listening, and the hosts started putting people's phone calls on the air. There was a succession of about four or five callers, most of them saying they had no problem with what Janet Jackson did, most of them - sorry to say this - men. Then one host said, "Where are all the women?" That's when I grabbed my phone. It took me a while to get through, but when I did, I was adamant about what I had to say.

"Hi," I blurted out to the female call screener. By this time I was shaking with nervousness. "My name's Amy, and I just wanted to say that I think this Janet Jackson thing's horrible, and it's not a generational gap because I'm 18 and I think it was disgusting."

Or something along those lines. It was early, I was nervous. The caller took down my name, my opinion (I have a lot of those), where I was from, and told me to turn down my radio and wait. Woohoo, I was going to be on the radio (I had been snubbed once by Z-100, but that's another story)!

One of the previous callers had said that it was no big deal, that people go around topless all the time in Europe. The host laughed and said that maybe American needed to loosen up. Bwaha, another opinion to hit them with!

When I finally heard them announce my name and welcome me to the show, I jumped right into my arguments. No, this was not a generational thing. No, just because people in Europe go around half naked does not mean it should be allowed on TV here in America (I went off on something about how even though people do drugs doesn't mean we should make marijuana legal. I should have thought of a better argument than that, but that's what I said then, so I'm sticking to it.). And if this was what happened this year at the Superbowl, what's going to happen next year, and the year after that, and the year after that?

The hosts were very polite and made some acknowledging comments, thanked me, and then I was off the air. That long story for this opinion.

What Janet Jackson did was disgraceful (and illegal), and we should not tolerate it. There were kids watching the Superbowl with their parents, people who would prefer not to see that kind of indecency. Not just your grandparents, either. I would have been mortified if I had been watching that with my guy friends. Let's just make pop singers, women in general!, more of a sex icon than they already are. And to think this was shown on national TV w/o warning or advisory. There are other channels for this shame, you know. And just because people in Europe go around topless doesn't mean that America's uptight. We have topless/nude beaches here to, but we still have some shred of propriety left. Cover up, Janet Jackson! If Eve can realize that she needs clothes, than I think you can too. I get very frustrated, because I know that what she did just isn't right, but many Americans are just too callous to see it. It wasn't funny. It wasn't cool. It was disgusting.

Come on, America, where has your sense of decency gone?

My parents said that my call sparked a few others in protest. I just heard the guy who IMed in to say that I needed to shut up, in not so few words. That's okay, though. I still like his comment the best.