Howard Stern was recently removed from some media networks for his “shock jock” routine. Why only now is he treated in this manner? Well the inevitable seems to be arriving.
America’s Super Bowl hypocrisy notwithstanding, it appears that our capacity to shock and be shocked is diminishing. We are becoming desensitized to so-called edginess and vulgarity. In fact, it is almost expected in our culture.
Janet Jackson received so much coverage because there wasn’t much else that we were interested in at the moment. It was a nice opportunity to reel in some quick and easy ratings.
Few of us care now that that period has passed. It’s a good thing I didn’t try any Janet jokes in this column —- no one would laugh.
And that is the point: vulgarity is old news, and there isn’t much nowadays that can genuinely shock us anymore. I don’t know if this is good or bad.
I think we’re getting bored. We watch the news and find out that six American soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber yesterday and some basketball player is on trial for murder. This is stuff that we hear and read every day, and not even a mother drowning her kids in a lake gets our attention anymore. Been there, done that. The most interesting murder case we’ve had in a long time involved O.J. Simpson —- and that was a decade ago.
Those were good times. We had O.J., Rodney King, the Menendez brothers, the Oklahoma bombing and riots every other week —- the media was in heaven. We were eating up every tragedy and juicy scandal that we could stomach. Now we can’t stomach enough.
People have to get more creative to make us pay attention. And their efforts are certainly not appreciated.
The giant media conglomerates are aware of this, too. So they rush to get the next wacky reality show that will garner attention, and showcase every talented athlete under the age of eighteen that can speak intelligent English — or any other language. The more foreign, the better.
Yao Ming should be quite grateful for our national boredom. Not even the presidential election is interesting. The best thing about it was Howard Dean, and he played the jackass card too long and lost. Now we’re bored again.
Well there is a positive side to this. In our nation’s efforts to keep itself awake, people are becoming more open about things they would have balked at before.
Honestly, even though people are still fighting for gay marriage rights, ten years ago the fight would not be nearly as strong, with as many supporters on both sides if the issue.
No, I am not saying that people support gay marriage merely because they’re bored. I am saying that through the collective effort to make things more interesting for the American audience, our exposure to more challenging aspects of our culture has increased, such as the popularity of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and t.A.t.U.
People were looking for something controversial to throw onto the national stage and get everybody talking. Guess what? People are talking.
Also, religion has once again taken center stage, and instead of sexual scandal, it is artistic controversy that is on our lips. Mel Gibson, you’re a genius. Take an overdone topic and put your own intensely brutal name on it. Who’d have ever thought that Jesus would sit on top of the financial mountaintop?
The good thing about this is if it were not for our previous exposure to the edgy and risqué, we would not have been ready for this kind of film, just as our grandparents’ generation would not have been ready for this. Simply put, our boredom has inspired more daring and creativity across the board.
Hopefully, the cycle will continue in the way I envision: people, bored with all of the violence, flash and excess, will long for the simplicity and grace that we started with. Bombs and bodies will give way to relationships and introspection on screen, and openness will not necessarily mean desire for crassness and bombast.
Hopefully, we can bore ourselves back to life. Because right now, I’m bored to death.
Send all comments to: [email protected]
