Enough is Enough

One of the things I try diligently to do is not be the old, cranky, out of touch with culture guy.  I try to stay up with technology, Sometimes I'm successful, sometimes not.  I keep attuned to the creative side of our culture and keep up with the popular trends.  I confess that I don't particularly like or understand some of the current music, movies and other parts of the creative world, but I know my parents weren't wild about the Beatles, Rolling Stones or other aspect of the popular culture in my day.  A good example of something I don't really understand the draw of are podcasts.  Even in retirement I don't have time to sit around and listen to other people talking, bloviating and pontificating.  I get enough of that in real life.  But podcasts are enormously popular so I try and keep up with what is going on in that world.  

A friend sent me the story below.  It's got some rough language, but that just seems to be the language of the day.  Fuck has become a word that is used so casually and frequently by both sexes that it's lost a lot of its impact.  At least to me that's true.  

Anyway, it got me to thinking about what we accept and what we don't.  Or what is okay and what isn't.  Once again, not to be the old pessimistic guy, but some of the fabric of culture seems to be unravelling.  And when we celebrate and reward those greatly contributing to that unravelling...well...enough is enough.  I'm just one guy.  There's nothing I can do.  Or wait...I have a blog.  At least, at the very least, I can raise a bullshit flag as high as I can.  This is unacceptable.  And I'm not looking for any comments like "what about................?"  I'm talking about this.  Rewarding and celebrating these nasty characters isn't okay.  I have no expectations that my (or others) disdain will have any impact at all.  I'm not calling for anything like a boycott or letter writing campaign.  Because those kinds of things are useless.  But at least I won't be silent.  And if enough people who don't think this is okay voice their disgust, besides feeling a little better and standing up a little straighter, maybe someone will listen.  

And I will finish by saying this.  This is the kind of shit that got Trump elected.  No one else was listening.  No one else could see anything wrong.  No one else would voice the truth.  Money is at the root of all politics and they couldn't afford for the checks to stop.  If you've read this blog at all you know I'm not a fan.  But if our culture keeps spiraling down he's gonna get another chance.  I hope desperately he doesn't, but I'm afraid he will.  And to use a word that I only use to emphasize something, that will be a fucking disaster!

During CBS’s telecast of the Titans-Bengals playoff game, a commercial for Corona beer aired, starring Snoop Dogg, who, despite countless arrests for guns and drugs, has become a must-have to endorse products.

So what if he luridly degrades women as one of his stocks in trade if he can sell beer?

The night before that ad ran, NYPD officer Jason Rivera, 22, was shot dead with an assault rifle while responding to a domestic violence call in East Harlem. His partner, Wilbert Mora, 27, died from his wounds four days later.

And as I watched that Corona ad, I got to thinking about Snoop Dogg’s violently anti-police, pro-crime vile and vulgar “artistry,” mindful that Roger Goodell has anointed Snoop Dogg the headliner at this year’s Super Bowl halftime.

Perhaps Goodell, also in the interest of keeping it real, would like to rap along with a “song” by Snoop and J5 Slap entitled, “Police.” Ready, Roger? It reads thusly:

“All you niggas out there,

Take your guns that you using to shoot each other

And start shooting these b—h-ass mother fucking police.

That’ll impress a mother-fucking nigga like me.”

But Snoop’s Super Bowl selection doesn’t just meet with the approval of the NFL and “It’s All About Our Fans” Goodell.

The halftime show and Snoop’s appearance is sponsored with the full, proud commercial and financial support of Pepsi, which seems eager to become the soft drink of hardcore.

Back to that charming “song”. Ready Team Pepsi? It’s Karaoke Night! Here we go:

“Dipping through the city with a Glock in a Range Rove

If you sleeping probably not with the same hoe

Rock the same clothes rich niggas do

And rock by the same code till I’m a rich nigga too

I be in the club with the stick in my shoe

You call the fucking police like a bitch nigga do.”

Five NYPD officers have been shot in the first 20 days of this year. And the fellow chosen by the NFL and approved by Goodell to star in this year’s halftime produces, records, sells and profits from “artistry” advocating streets filled with the blood of cops and threats against those who would help solve the shootings of cops and civilians.

More? We’ll give this part to NBC’s NFL pregame panelist, Jac Collinsworth. Sunday, after NBC presented a Super Bowl halftime promo narrated by Snoop Dogg, he said, “That was our friend, Snoop.”

Is that right? He’s our friend?

Come on up to the mic, Jac. Now, in the name of keepin’ it real, pick it up with this, the refrain from “our friend’s” charming ditty (with Master P), “Snitches”:

“Snitches snitches snitches

Niggas be running they mouth just like bitches …

Snitches snitches snitches

I got a slug for ya’ll mother-fucking snitches.”

Hey, Corona beer marketing department, your turn. Ready? Snoop Dogg has a video in which he sings a cover version of NWA’s “Fuck the police” while holding his crotch in a courtroom. It’s an easy one. Just repeat after Snoop:

“Fuck the po-lice! Fuck the po-lice!”

I invite — dare, challenge — everyone — Goodell, the NFLPA, NFL team owners, the executive board at Pepsi and Corona, NBC Sports, young Collinsworth — to demonstrate the courage of their convictions to join with Snoop Dogg in any of his dozens of similarly depraved enterprises presented as entertainment.

And now, just for added kicks, look up the lurid lyrics of two other Goodell-certified entertainers who will perform at this Super Bowl halftime, Eminem (“Just Don’t Give A Fuck”) and crotch-grabbing Kendrick (“Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”) Lamar.

This is what Roger Goodell thinks NFL audiences, of all ages, are worth on a Super Bowl Sunday. These acts are far beneath him as he has already admitted that he can’t repeat what Snoop Dogg raps. But he feels as if Snoop Dogg is perfect for you and yours — and professional football.

And it’s not as if previous Super Bowl halftime shows under Goodell’s classy, dignified guidance haven’t caused those who know right from wrong to ask why they’ve been dismissed as unworthy, disinvited as out of step with marching that points all of us backwards.

Why, under Goodell, have halftime shows been diving lower and lower? And why has he allowed such uncivil performers to be attached to a championship ball game?

Meanwhile, the classic “To Kill a Mockingbird,” has been removed from a Washington State school’s required reading list because it contains racial slurs.

And Goodell, the shameless $63 million per pandering phony, slaps “Stop Hate” and “End Racism” along the backs of end zones and players’ helmets, then invites Snoop Dogg to be the star of the Super Bowl.

Maybe Snoop will be granted a police escort to the stadium. For his safety, of course.

 

Officer Rivera was 22. Officer Mora was 27.