Requesting a Shred of Decency Isn’t Racist & Here’s Why
The week following Super Bowl LIV garnered a remarkable influx of mixed reviews regarding a legendarily co-starred halftime show. A more conservative audience was met with vitriol as the unforgettably sexy performance was criticized as having panned too close to softcore pornography. One HipLatina piece in particular was published the following day that unabashedly praised the two fiery artists and mocked the opposition in the process.
Let’s pick apart this hot garbage, shall we?
The Super Bowl Halftime Show, which featured Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, is sure pissing off a lot of white people.
Oh, here we go.
For the most part, the conversation on social media is that these Latinas presented a show that was over-sexualized. It’s majorly hypocritical for people to be appalled over the show because it was too sexy yet wouldn’t care if Taylor Swift wore on that stage wearing a skimpy outfit or furthermore support the President of the United States who admittedly grabs women by the pussy.
I don’t think that it could be made any more abundantly clear that the POTUS is sorry about what he said fifteen years ago. Here’s footage of Donald Trump stating explicitly that he is in fact not proud of it, apparently contrary to popular belief:
(The leaked tape in question is from 2005. This edit has been made on neither CNN’s cite nor its YouTube channel.)
Call his apology frivolous, trivial, normalizing, what have you; this is just him being characteristically stress-resistant. For his standards (considering how ineloquent he normally is) Trump has remained remarkably unneurotic and poised in owning up to his wrongdoing, and his dutiful prioritization of far more prominent issues and imminent threats is arguably among the reasons why he is in the White House today.
He’s even acted upon them since having been inaugurated. Promises made, promises kept, I suppose.
Though the author makes several mentions of Pussygate throughout her piece, this is the only time I will explicitly entertain it; I’d prefer to not crowd this response with Trump’s dozens of attempts to rectify/dismiss what should no longer be a grave concern in a historically liberated Western society.
I say this not to come across as flippant myself; I cannot emphasize enough the egregiousness of sexual assault. I am just simply confident that my integrity will be properly recognized such that my stance should be made sufficiently clear without beating a dead horse.
Anyway, back to white people. The author goes on to cite this tweet:
This is a rightfully qualified statement that describes the qualms most critics appear to have had with the show: The standard of appropriate decency for prime time family television was lowered to a problematic level. While I was at first understandably enamored by the pretty lights and impressive choreography while surrounded by an exclusively adult crowd, upon reflection I couldn’t help but sympathize with those watching live with their young, impressionable children.
Franklin is also a noted Donald Trump supporter who was just banned from speaking at a London event because of his support of the President and anti-LGBT views.
There is such an important dialogue to be had about a point that is so seldom made: There is an imperative semantic distinction to be made when evaluating the “acceptance and tolerance” mantra whereunder progressives operate.
There are plenty of things people tolerate that they do not necessarily accept. For example: A vast majority of the Western world is tolerant of gay marriage, but a marginally smaller subset may not be accepting of this idea due to restrictions set forth by certain religious dogma that encourage heterosexual relationships.
While I am far from an expert on the subject as it can get rather abstract, one thing that everyone should be able to understand about religion is that it is, in fact, exclusive. An Orthodox Jew does not walk into a church expecting everyone to eat kosher. That being said, the pursuit of social progress should aspire to maximize tolerance, but acceptance should operate under the volition of the individual and these practices should in no way subject others to coercion. That’s where freedom of religion becomes relevant; it is crucially different than the dangerous idea of freedom therefrom.
The cited Newsweek article includes a petition — which garnered fewer than ten thousand signatures — that is quoted claiming that Graham has incited violence against the LGBT community, without mention of any instance of any specific people being radicalized by his preaching. Graham is nonetheless only responsible for the consequences of his own speech and actions; if what he has said has ever truly put a community of people at risk then the demand for his service would not have ever constituted him being initially invited to the event.
Nevertheless, this petty breach of contract resulting from the plights of a vocal minority is to be expected; the United Kingdom does not exercise the same rights to free speech as the United States. But, then again, nor does anywhere else.
Sorry, that probably could have been an entire other article in itself; perhaps it will be.
It’s pretty laughable to hear the outrage by some white people over the stellar performances of Shakira and Lopez mainly because if white performers were to do the same thing, they wouldn’t have any issue with it.
Even the Taylor Swift dis from before made no mention of her movements on stage (or lack thereof), so it’s pretty steadfast to say this without an appropriate A–B comparison to make.
Well… there is an attempt:
Lady Gaga performed at the Super Bowl in 2017 and wore a bodysuit costume and showed off her midriff and no one cared. Shakira shook her hips because that is the title of her hit song.
I’ve always had a lot of respect for Lady Gaga; she and I are both alumni of the same summer nerd camp through JHU. I just rewatched her performance, and upon reading this Salon write up I can better understand how the show could be interpreted through a cultural lens as a tasteful homage to gayness.
But one thing was made clear: Suggesting that this is the same thing as the spectacle in question, sans backlash, is apples-to-oranges.
Perhaps it’s just me being naïve, but it took me quite some time to realize that there may be some deeper cultural significance to Lady Gaga’s performance. The way I see it, it was sufficiently nuanced such that the underlying message(s) went over most adolescences’ heads. However, the risqué nature of the aforementioned dynamic duo’s routine was by no means subtle.
And, yes, J.Lo danced on a stripper pole because her film Hustlers featured her as a stripper. That film went on to gross more than $157.6 million worldwide and earned her tons of critical acclaim and award nominations.
So it could be argued that this aspect of the routine was the most apparent exhibition of sex appeal, but I will give this justification the benefit of the doubt. However, if they really wanted to include a female-empowering movie reference in the latter half, they could have just pulled some props and outfits from another film in which she starred — perhaps one that she had produced just eight months prior.
Second Act was an American romantic comedy that describes her role’s rise up the corporate ladder, and — hot take — I happen to think that a production along the lines of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with a little bit (ok, a lot) of J.Lo flair would have been a fascinating spectacle to behold.
Both of these women are successful Latina artists internationally because people love what they bring to the table. That’s why they were asked to perform during the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
There is something I sincerely feel is necessary to mention, particularly as a fan of both artists: The more often you juxtapose someone’s race to their accomplishments, the more it begins to cheapen the merits of their success(es) by considering their immutable characteristics to be significant factors. In a society that has made insurmountable progress in championing the judgement of others based on the content of their character instead of the color of their skin, I find it to be rather unfortunate — regressive, even — that there is still such superfluous mention of race and I am perpetually astonished by “liberals” who don’t aspire to true colorblindness.
Perhaps that’s just me pettily making a mountain out of an anthill. But let’s keep going; I’m enjoying this.
Did people really think that these women would be covered up head-to-toe and not dancing?
This is far from the first time that I have heard this. It’s probably just hyperbole, but for the sake of argument let’s consider this a fallacy.
There is a reason that the halftime shows of the past couple of decades — which have featured their fair share of scantily clad women — have not garnered backlash of this type and magnitude: We’ve adopted so much wokeness and feminism in recent years that the mere suggestion that something aired on live network television in the middle of a Sunday should not feature stripper poles is perceived as borderline Puritan extremism. I am unbothered by our adapting to newfound sex positivity in Western culture, but I would think that one would be entitled to some reservation if this objectively mild request cannot be upheld.
Again, acceptance versus tolerance.
The vitriol on social media regarding this show, particularly from Trump supporters, is ridiculous because we know they back a sexist and racist president.
Well that’s just ad hominem, is it not? This logic is substantiated by nothing more than a journalist on Twitter, the breeding ground for these fallacies:
So, to the people complaining over this show, where do you draw the line of moral decency? It’s OK for your President to behave like a sexist, racist jerk and boast of grabbing women by their “p*ssys,” yet the idea of two Latinas dancing on stage is too much for you. You’re OK with watching men bash into each other as a sport causing severe damage to their brain, yet J.Lo on a strip pole is too much for you to handle?
Quite the straw man considering the primary argument: The show was inappropriate for children. You certainly don’t need to be a fan of contact sports, but I personally would argue that the athletic prowess demonstrated on the field that night sure was a lot more admirable than the pelvic thrusts demonstrated on stage.
We have seen this kind of racist hatred before. In 2016, Beyonce faced her own backlash for her social justice performance that brought attention to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Actually, most people just want that Sunday to be void of politics entirely.
As you may also recall, Janet Jackson was blacklisted for years after her Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2004 after her nipple was exposed, while Justin Timberlake, who did the exposing, got off scot-free. Why is it that only women of color garner such criticism over their performances?
While I concede to Jackson undeniably getting the short end of the stick here, Timberlake’s generalization that American society is harsher on both women and ethnic people is especially unwarranted today considering the reality of the diminution of racial prejudice in the United States as well as the majority of us admitting that men have it no easier than women and vice versa.
It’s fascinating and infuriating to see Trump supporters be up in arms about decency and female exploitation while having no qualms about supporting a president who represents just that. And for the haters that say this kind of show goes against the Me Too movement, you should know women have the right to dance and wear whatever they want, whenever they want. That doesn’t give anyone permission to take advantage of them.
Can we stop pretending for just one moment that this performance was not portrayed at least partially as a strip tease? I am truly baffled by the idea that this was somehow a level of feminism-ing to which young girls should aspire when the act was juxtaposed to commercials that showcased women defying gender stereotypes by assuming some of the most well-respected roles in America.
Too bad Trump doesn’t understand the difference.
Orange man bad!!
What I saw last night was two incredibly talented Latinas share a performance that highlighted traditional Afro-Colombian dance, uplifted the people of Puerto Rico, and put the current administration’s inhumane family separation immigration policy on center stage.
Small tangent here:
I’m truly perplexed by the assertion that the United States doesn’t utterly champion legal immigration when we have over four times the number of immigrants as the next leading country.
While our history with immigrants is undoubtedly flawed, I urge you to look at, for example, Asian-Americans, who just decades ago experienced legitimate racial discrimination and mistreatment in internment camps, yet have since brought themselves to now make up a vast majority of candidates at our highest levels of education by means of nothing more than their own hard work and good decisions.
With this in mind, if you are found committing a crime in the United States, you are arrested and separated from your family; if you are found failing to utilize the legal port of entry, you deprive a lawful immigrant — who lacks the advantage of hopping the border — of the opportunities being sought after upon undergoing the necessary (albeit lengthy) legal process and deserve to face similar consequences.
The use of cages actually stems from the Obama era, with photos from the previous administration still being used to portray a newly adopted zero-tolerance policy in a negative light. Meanwhile, ICE now boasts a relatively low annual death rate as a result of recent efforts to considerably decrease the period of time during which detainees are held. Candace Owens went on an unusually colorful rant in a viral Periscope explaining that the conditions of the Broward Transitional Center in Florida far exceeded her expectations and contradict the narrative activists have espoused regarding inmate treatment at detention centers across the southern border.
Don’t believe the likes of Fox News or Turning Point? Well CNN took a look at one for themselves:
Surely many children from inner cities, third-world countries, and those internment camps I mentioned before would argue that this is a relatively hospitable environment.
It’s sad that there are people out there who have nothing better to do than to try to tear people down who are just being proud of who they are.
It’s a shame that the author concludes the piece with this when she fails to provide even just one example of anyone effectively trying to stop the performers from doing what they have the privilege of being permitted to do in the freest country in the world. Among the things that I love the most about America is that no one cares enough about you to be an active roadblock, but simultaneously that we’re all in it together in our pursuit to properly identify — and, in turn, reject — egregious ideology.
But apparently these malintentioned racists exist ubiquitously somewhere in the ether.
I would like to make abundantly clear that I was entertained by the performance. Floored, really. Should we see this collaboration between veterans in the industry again? Take my money. Should women aspire to look like J.Lo in their middle age? Depends whom you ask. Do Shakira’s hips lie? Of course not. But, were the camera pans to her entire pelvis a bit overkill? Probably.
While I am primarily surprised by the lack of conscientiousness on the part of both Fox and the NFL — a sports organization whose age demographics know no bounds — what I also hope that you all understand is that neither women nor minorities are to be devoid of criticism just because they fall at a specific level of the intersectionality hierarchy; devaluing others’ perfectly reasonable opinions on the basis of their immutable characteristics is the very definition of bigotry.
In an optimally egalitarian society we should be able to express pride for our heritage in any manner we please so long as it doesn’t pose any negative externalities, but if we are to make any progress toward the ultimate pursuit of racial equality then we should at the very least seek to eradicate this asinine “Dear White People” double standard and, by the infamous words of Morgan Freeman, “Stop talking about it.”
Tout that the pole dance was a profound example of Western art all you want; it’s only inevitable that someone will tell you that your taste is trash.
