Feeding The Bird
Everyone keeps making a big deal out of M.I.A. flipping off the camera at the halftime show. There is a group of people who are upset it happened, but it seems there are even more upset with the fact that flipping off a camera is still a big deal in this nation while misogyny, violence, drug use, and other forms of sexual innuendos seem to show their ugly little faces without a problem. Now, I agree that television has been very lax on a lot of those subjects (especially violence), but it seems as though people are defending the bird flip more than condemning the others. Wil Wheaton wrote on his Tumblr about the situation saying this about the use of the middle finger:
For fuck’s sake, America, it’s not the 1950s any more. Grow the fuck up.
Now, maybe we do have it backwards on what is okay for the media to share, but I think it’s more of a problem that we are okay with them sharing any of it. I realize times have changed since the ’50s and that you have to move past the fears of showing couples in bed or saying curse words, but there is a line that television has crossed. But because it was crossed for entertainment, it’s okay. The reason people still freak out about middle fingers and curse words is because they aren’t a direct form of entertainment. They don’t tell a story. Violence makes up a large part of Primetime TV nowadays but, without it, these shows couldn’t exist. It has its point, as does sex. Everyone knows sex sells, but there is no market for curse words and crude gestures. Not on television, at least.
So sure, you can get upset about people getting upset about some silly thing as what happened, but the fact of the matter is, until it becomes a regular part of our everyday lives, people will still get offended. After all, offense comes from being caught off guard from things you don’t have to deal with very often. You wanna take away this issue from both standpoints? Flip more people off. But please, don’t defend the middle finger; such a crude, tasteless, and weak form of expression.
