You go, Madonna and your Super Bowl Half Time Jamboree. "Check" for making folks remember your new tune (even if they don't want to) and upping the careers of fellow artists (not that they were lacking). I saw the M.I.A. finger 'slip' and I thought to myself, "perfect". (I suspect it was no accident. We're still talking about Janet Jackson's boob.)
Your opinion on the matter is really no matter because THE POINT is that there is a conversation. This IS advertising strategy. Get us all arguing and analyzing and hypothesizing and... inspired? To do what? Write a blog? (Buy something.)
Got milk?
I got in a heated discussion with my husband the other day after a heated discussion with a family member. Politics. My husband was frustrated with me for not helping him 'defend the Democrats'. I was frustrated with him for assuming I would do that. I have my opinions (strong opinions) about politics, religion and money - three subjects I consider off-limits for casual conversation. I have no problem with a verbal wrestle or lesson learned from critical debate but I don't consider it a 'pastime' - something to PASS TIME. After a nice, intellectual twister game, we walk away slapping ourselves on the back or tossing our fist at our opponent - goody for us - but why? What have we accomplished other than an ego stroke? I think it is as useful as trying to teach my dog to juggle.
Where's the beef?
What if the next time we threw our word-weight around (in person and online) we promised to accomplish something by the end of it? Something small but tangible and something that supports our beliefs. Notice the next time your opinion makes your blood pump faster. Listen to the hint your heart is giving you. And DO. Don't ask why. Just answer the knock at the door - let something happen. Make something happen. Give money, send a card, volunteer some time, paint, write, make your point useful - like good advertising. Inspire. Words don't have the actual power - you do. Make them count.
Just do it.
I remember, back when Matthew Shepard was killed, seeing a report on 20/20 (a news program I had always trusted) that used the words of drug dealers and starf*ckers to paint a picture of him as a low-life who deserved it. I was watching it with my Mom and just seethed in anger. As a matter of fact, I think I kind of scared her. The reporting was just so blatant in it's disregard for this young man who, no matter what illicit activity he might have engaged in at a point in his like, didn't deserve to die the way he did.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I gave up on "the news" as I knew it right then. Since then, my disdain for the mainstream media has just grown. Nowadays, rather than letting the news come to me, I go looking for it. Let's face it, in the modern world of the "worldwide web" and all the social media outlets available to all of us it's easy to find all kinds of information.
So...I get you on this: Let's stick to what really matters, folks!