But the theater of outrage had to go on. I'm just making a screen shot, not linking to the predictable noise from public figures. I think silence and restraint are the better response, but the temptation is so intense:
৮ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০২৩
Outrage was predicted, and I said "Predicted outrage, the stupidest form of outrage."
And: "I suspect most Christians know not to get triggered by every celebrity jackass who announces they're going to yank your chain tonight. Sam Smith will be dressed up as Satan. Why, that's as outrageous as a 5-year-old on Halloween!"
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Cruz wrote "This…is…evil."
Rolling Stones cries out for attention with "Cruz raises hell".
Boring.
The Devil and Satanic themes are nothing new, and fully expected (an expected logical counterpoint) in a Christian-dominant culture. See:
"Faust" - Middle ages (1300s) to Goethe (1832)
"The Devil and Tom Walker" - Washington Irving (1824)
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" -- pop country song by Charlie Daniels (1979)
Also see the Church of Satan and many heavy metal bands after Black Sabbath (1970) for reactionary "I'm-opposite-of-a-Christian-but-I-have-no-independent-ideas" theming.
Devils are not news...but they surely cartoonish, distorted, and without any coherent message (e.g., as morality training) in the present era. Now where did I leave my Nikes filled with human blood?
Biden did it better.
Here, we disagree. This Satan and trans stuff filters down in the culture to every crevice of America. Grade school girls in Omaha are getting sucked into this trans social contagion.
Certainly, Mr. Smith is a less than mediocre talent with a weak voice but he’s popular like Mr. Post Malone is popular.
Andrew Brietbart famously said politics is downstream from culture.
People certainly have a right to comment and fight back.
The Left is in its final stages of destroying America. Some here think that I’m being hyperbolic. After watching Joe Biden talk about fentanyl last night, I don’t think so. He’s let in 5 million illegal aliens and something like 100k Americans have died of drug overdoses. We can’t go on like this.
I think it's more effective to yawn in their face and tell them it's stupid and trite than to react with outrage. As my mother always said: You will only encourage them. I'm sure Satan, if he existed, would enjoy the outrage. If you are really concerned about evil in the world, why would you put your energy into engaging with a Grammy show performance by someone whose goal is to get and keep your attention? YOU are succumbing to temptation. It's all so stupid.
"Andrew Brietbart famously said politics is downstream from culture."
Yeah, but you are making the gross error of thinking you are making better culture when all you are doing is complaining about what other people are putting in. Where's the superior goodness that you are contributing? Saying you hate things other people are doing adds to their power. I remember when rock and roll in general was denounced as the devil's music.
Considering the source, "raise hell" and "rail against" may just mean "issued a statement objecting to." It's all spin.
Sam Smith is living rent free in a lot of heads, which is what he hoped.
I bet quite a lot of people come here to tell you about how they little they care about this, when the truth is if they didn't care they would have scrolled on past.
I didn’t watch or pay much attention, but was informed on social media that Pfizer was the sponsor.
Some humor in that.
News this morning is that the U.S. has built numerous bioweapons labs in Taiwan. Bioweapons can be targeted at specific races and nationalities by DNA. Hunter Biden spearheaded the building of such bioweapons labs in Ukraine. COVID was most likely engineered to take out old people.
So, there does some to be a lot of devil work in progress.
So that’s how the woke mobs gave won the culture battles for the past 20 years - with silence and restraint. Duly noted.
I think David Burge had the best comment on Twitter. Yawn.
My only outrage was the outcry over Bonnie Raitt winning song of the year and her being called an unknown blues singer. And that sums up everything wrong with the Grammys and why they have become irrelevant.
Believe people when they tell you who they are.
Ann:
My contribution today will be testifying before the Nebraska Unicameral in favor of LB 574. The bill would ban puberty blockers for minors. I’m actually citing a NYT story from November that you posted about. I thank you for that.
The Left is conducting medical experiments on children. So, yes I’m outraged.
On the culture front, I’m trying to sell my script which is way better than “Babylon.” My script is about love.
The performance is tedious, the Right's outrage is tedious.
I find more joy in watching the new season of Swap Shop.
I remember when rock and roll in general was denounced as the devil's music.
It isn’t?
Explain to me why not. Played a major role is saddling us with the blasphemy of gay marriage, feminism’s assault on family, marriage and church, with the result that most kids now grow up without a father in their lives. Drugs don’t look so recreational any more. Our cities are filled with desperate, hopeless kids strung out on dope and living in tents. Our churches are emptied out or, like the Episcopal Church, converted into clown shows of identity politics.
I like a lot of rock and roll. The outcome seems to confirm the “devil’s music” diagnosis.
I was curious so I read the NY Post story on Megyn Kelly's condemnation. The longest quotes from her are on his music video where she's riffing on his nipples and then a long quote on how the Pfizer ad at the end of the Grammy's performance was a a giant troll. I think she was probably saying the same as you Althouse, but the articles must be written to get people to click. Most of the article described the performance and the sexual identities of everyone involved. Megyn Kelly was just the hook, stretched to make a headline.
Ted Cruz used the word evil apparently. He could have said, "those guys can act as evil as they want and I don't really care," but that's not clickable either.
Remember when the US was labelled the "Great Satan" by our middle-eastern adversaries? Since we are a post-Christian nation flouting/ touting such nonsense, who could argue? Not to mention the latest transgender/ drag shows. They have televisions and the internet also.
And it is all down stream to religion. If you read Isaiah and believe he saw it all, then you don’t worry about “confederacies!” Or “smoking firebrands!” or… anything, really. The battle is the Lord’s, not mine. I have enough on my plate to battle my own selfishness and proclivities toward self-focus and self-concern.
Imagine the outrage if they presented a song about how Biden and The Pelosi and all those with similar views are going to hell because of their support for abortion.
Or how trans men are woman haters and no better than actors in blackface.
And why dump on Dave Begley? He is doing precisely what they are doing and what you are doing: announcing his dissent in a public forum.
The outrage machine was already primed and cued up. Five of the six screeenshotted images had those articles prewritten-they were waiting to fill in the blanks. There was going to be "OUTRAGE!" even though it had to be manufactured.
Reverse the syllogism: the Left should ignore the conservative "outrage"
"If you are really concerned about evil in the world, why would you put your energy into engaging with the response to a Grammy show performance by someone whose goal is to get and keep your attention? YOU are succumbing to temptation. It's all so stupid."
Well, they've got to up the ante. How about next year they simulate sex with baby Jesus in his cradle? Nah, that's been done to death......They say you can't blaspheme a dead god. Nobody will give you a hard time if you say something bad about Jupiter. You've got to blaspheme something or someone people believe in. I recommend that next year he dress up as Weinstein and simulate masturbation in front of a Greta Thunberg image. That would be really cool and help raise awareness of the climate change crisis.
Outrage refers to two things at once. Something beyond what is proper (outre made into a noun with -age), and rage. Not a person in a hundred senses that they're completely different. The word itself says what is beyond what is proper deserves rage and that's all there is to it
Rioting blacks are the professionals at outrage. Christian anti-satanists can't compete. You've got to make a compelling visual news story for decent outrage coverage.
As zenials are fond of saying, "3 edgy 5 me". This is what happens when high school edgelords get beaten up too much...or not enough.
Ann Althouse said...
I think it's more effective to yawn in their face and tell them it's stupid and trite than to react with outrage.
Laughing hysterically works, too. But, quite frankly, I have haven't seen any outrage or controversy over Smith's performance anywhere except in outlets like WaPo or NYT. I don't even think the Daily Mail paid much attention to him. Madonna's cosmetic surgery disaster and Fascist schoolmarm getup created more buzz.
The excitement of Variety was almost palpable that they drew a response from Ted Cruz. I think that they were hoping that Trump would condemn it.
“ So that’s how the woke mobs gave won the culture battles for the past 20 years - with silence and restraint. Duly noted.”
Have they won? Isaiah said they would be as when a man sleeps and dreams that he ate but when he wakes up he is hungry. Or as a man that sleeps and dreams that he drank water but when he wakes up he is still thirsty.
Feh.
Look at me, look at me. I have a scary Halloween costume. Be outraged! Please, can't you be outraged... just a little bit? Please?
If Smith had real balls he'd bite the head off a live bat... from the Wuhan Province.
As it is he's been outdone by Ozzy decades ago.
He should have worn an ABORTION pin with the heart being the first O, like some of the Democrats did during the SOTU. The Democrats just LOVE murdered babies. They have to advertise it to the world how depraved they are.
I've seen some brief clips of the Sam Smith performance. What truly chilled me wasn't stupid gyrating Fat Satan. It was the wild and genuine-looking applause given to the other performer who gratefully accepted his/her award as "the first transgender" woman to win. Some of those who leapt to their feet at this announcement looked transported with joy and admiration.
The inside headline - "Satan Themed Grammy Performance"
As if it was merely "themed".
Not a big Satan fan. And maybe it's my age. But this type of Satan performance seems like REAL evil, not the tongue in cheek AC/DC kind.
And it's so mediocre.
Madonna's face now looks like a Chinese spy balloon.
If I thought commenting could change the world, I would probably do it more often. I’m sure it feels good to comment when you think your words are having an effect on things.
MartyH nailed it. We're never treated to these pleas for restraint when the Left is outraged. No, we must listen, have conversations, ask tough questions. Some outrage is clearly acceptable, while others need to sit there and take it.
Before the week is out, we'll be treated to maudlin pieces lamenting our polarized culture, asking what could possibly be done about it right after a major cultural institution trolled people it openly despises.
I wonder if the response to expressions of outrage would be the same after a bunch of entertainers pranced about with turban bombs on their heads.
My little personal history:
> Born 1951. Growing up in a lower middle class suburban housing plan (our house cost $5100), everyone in our neighborhood went to church. Different churches, but everyone went. All stores were closed on Sunday.
> In elementary school, the day began with the pledge of allegiance, a Bible reading over the PA system and a short prayer. This was public school, mind you.
> In middle school (aka junior high school then), prayer and Bible reading tossed (Madalyn Murray O'Hair, SCOTUS decision 1963)
> Mid-60's LBJ declared the "War on Poverty".
> Late 60's VietNam protests, defiance of authority became the rallying cry. The Greatest Generation permitted and encouraged this behavior.
> 1973 SCOTUS justice Harry Blackmun ruled on Roe v. Wade. The descent of country accelerated.
> Looked around today. The War on Poverty has been lost. Church attendance in the tank. Christianity mocked or hauled into court. Sunday just another shopping day. Our children are lost and looking to "find themselves" with no anchor. They will believe anything thrown their way.
> Some (most?) call that progress.
Perform "outrageousness"
Nutpick the responses
Repeat.
Brought to you by Pfizer. Suckers.
The always edifying Mark Dice watched so you don't have to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWEmhKJizho
When did we quit calling certain behavior sophomoric?
"It was the wild and genuine-looking applause given to the other performer who gratefully accepted his/her award as "the first transgender" woman to win. Some of those who leapt to their feet at this announcement looked transported with joy and admiration."
It's the pro-Polanski crowd. They haven't changed.
Anyway, most of us deplorables don't react with outrage, insofar as we react at all, but with contempt.
And pray tell, what alternative acts of goodness would the MSM publicize as good?
Pregnancy centers are proper targets of violent attack, after all, and people praying at abortion clinics are haters liable to get the FBI beating down their door.
But the regular right, the "serene" people Althouse suspects actually exist, are at a disadvantage. The point of being conservative is to make government less powerful and politics less important so as to enable people to pursue virtuous lives in peace and freedom. Apolitical goodness, all around in my circles, has no chance against the imposition of prog "goodness" by our overlords.
I happened to turn on the Grammy's, just as Madonna came out to announce the "controversy" we were all to enjoy, so I actually saw Smith's performance. My reaction is that 1) I couldn't make out any of the lyrics, other than the word "unholy," 2) the costuming was the sort of thing available for Halloween for the last couple of decades 3) the tableaux of grinding dancers washed in red spotlight were inferior to what someone like Bob Fosse could manage way back and far less overtly sexual than those in "All That Jazz," 4) this might have been controversial in 1967, but not too much.
Welcome to the world of modern entertainment! If you cannot make anything good or interesting, and why would you since everyone from the showrunner to the writers to catering were chosen for marking diversity boxes rather than actual talent, then intentionally make something to insult a large portion of your potential audience! The relevant media will lap it up as the latest salvo in the culture wars, praising the "entertainers" as stunning and brave, preemptively granting them 5 stars out of 5 despite it being total crap! Those outstanding reviews should bring in more people to watch, including those who want to "hate watch" it. Then once the audience reviews come in and it is scoring 12% on Rotten Tomatoes, make sure to ignore all the reviews that provide thoughtful explanations of why the product failed and even those that were not offended but thought it was genuinely terrible, and instead focus on Twitter accounts with 3 followers making racist comments, declaring that because some nobody who mysteriously created an account 12 hours ago and is totally not the showrunner is a terrible person that all criticism is thereby invalid! Profit!
If this does not sound like a sustainable business model, I tend to agree. However, it is a very effective way for talentless hacks to extract money and prestige from massive entertainment conglomerates, who are starting to wonder why they are suddenly running out of money despite everyone declaring them stunning and brave at all the right parties.
Ann Althouse said...
I think it's more effective to yawn in their face and tell them it's stupid and trite than to react with outrage. As my mother always said: You will only encourage them. I'm sure Satan, if he existed, would enjoy the outrage. If you are really concerned about evil in the world, why would you put your energy into engaging with a Grammy show performance by someone whose goal is to get and keep your attention? YOU are succumbing to temptation. It's all so stupid.
You think it is more effective for other people to yawn.
You get mad when other people tell them it is stupid and fight back.
Really you just want all the normies to shut up and listen to you and the other smart people. You have decided that everyone else is stupid and you want them to stop talking.
But you know the wokists will never stop and have evil intent so it is bad faith advice.
The problem with intellectuals is they just aren't as good at managing society as they think they are.
What bothers me are these cartoonish depictions of Satan. He's real, but he's not someone wearing a red cape and horns. Here is how the Bible describes him:
"And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." 2 Corinthians 11:14
That is what makes him so successful. And treacherous.
Religion (i.e. behavioral protocol). Beware progressive processes. #PrinciplesMatter
Conflation of sex and gender. Parades without pride. Levine's follies. Grooming. Albinophobia. NYeT. Never.
DIEversity. Human rites. A State-established ethical religion administered by mortal gods, goddesses, and experts in the secular tradition.
My wife and I got about half way through “Babylon” before we realized it would not rise above the execrable.
Worst $20 I’ve ever spent… and that’s saying sumpthin’ 😉
Althouse is, quite literally, an incarnation of Eve, the first woman.
Funny how when the Jews attack other people, their victims power doesn't grow, it shrinks dramatically. And when Muslims attack people like Salmon Rushie, well, his power didn't grow either. How many people are going to think twice about attacking Muslims, when they might get a knife in their stomach?
The reason the outrage by Christians is worthless, is because its feeble, toothless, and unorganized. They are so passive, they congradulate themselves on doing nothing.
You can say, well its just the grammy's, but Christians will not fight over ANYTHING. Don't fool yourself.
As an educated person, I've been yawning at pop stars and their outrageous Satanic posturings for many decades now.
Satanism is a branch of spirituality, which I reject regardless of its source. As an atheist, my impulse on running into self-identified Satanists is to laugh and mock (if not whomp them upside the head).
Where we are now is a result of acting blasé about this stupidity. Where we are as a nation and culture is a very bad place. Especially for the most vulnerable. Infants, young impressionable girls, elderly and disabled who will soon be pushed to end their lives (as in MANY other western countries) so that people who like this kind of trash can be subsidized by the government.
"The reason the outrage by Christians is worthless, is because its feeble, toothless, and unorganized. They are so passive, they congratulate themselves on doing nothing.'
Should we take our knives out and start cutting off ears?
If we seem passive, it is because we strive to follow that certain passivity of our leader Christ, who allowed himself to be taken and killed by the Romans (at the urging of the Jewish religious leaders of the time.)
BTW, where is the mighty Rome these days? Where are those dangerous, hegemonic Romans that won the culture battle of Christ's era?
Perhaps there is more than meets the eye to this passivity thing. I mean, nobody at the Grammy's was dressing up as Cerberus to poke a stick in Roman worshipers' eyes.
I’m an atheist, so I have no dog in this fight. As far as I’m concerned, Satan is as mythical as Yahweh or Jupiter or Thor. But it seems to me that hardcore Christians should respond by abducting the a$$h*le and posting a Tik Tok video of him being burned at the stake. I’ll bet the number of incidents of Lefties trying to score cheap points by dissing Christians goes way down afterwards. Definitely Sam Smith would never do it again.
Look, I get this “turn the other cheek” crap, but I don’t recall that more than one check turning is required. However Christians are wimps and weenies.
Oh, and I agree with the commentators upthread who note that Althouse never seems to require that gays, pro-abortionists, or self-proclaimed “nasty women” act with restraint. Only the normies. As Sarah Huckabee Sanders said last night, "We are under attack in a left wing culture war we didn't start, and never wanted to fight.” So are the normies finally ready to fight? We shall see.
Most German citizens werent outraged by Hitler either. As Andrea Mitchell says, sometimes its good to be a coward.
Baptists and Bootleggers
Madonna at the Grammies was a good illustration of what has happened to entertainment in this country. That includes Disney.
Very disappointing intellectually and also compassionately.
Smith and Madonna will be a Vegas act someday.
Two drink minimum.
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