I'm assuming there is

no one left in the nation who has not seen or heard about the Janet Jackson/Justin

Timberlake interchange during the Super Bowl halftime show. I never watch

the halftime show during the Super Bowl, but even for people like me,

one couldn't help but hear about it.

Frankly, I'm amazed at

the whole outcry. I'm not surprised people are upset and I'm

not even surprised that it took less than a week after the event for some

ambulance-chasing attorney to file a class action lawsuit against MTV,

Viacom, CBS, Jackson, and Timberlake, saying that the "sexually explicit

conduct" caused millions of people to "suffer outrage, anger,

embarrassment and serious injury." Nothing lawyers do surprises me.

What does surprise me is the

clear mixed message this whole debacle presents. It may surprise my regular

readers to hear me say that I don't think it is as big a deal as

the media has made it out to be. Here is why.

We almost never watch TV programs

in our home because of all the offensive things on TV. I don't choose

to be subjected to, nor do I want my family to be subjected to, daily

doses of murder, rape, filthy language, sexual innuendo, homosexual ideology,

promiscuity, implied acceptance of immorality of various kinds, and the

constant stream of violence that inundates the airwaves. Even some commercials

aren't safe to watch with children in the room. I don't have

to sue anyone. I simply exercise my option to shut the TV off (or, more

likely, I don't even turn it on).

The halftime show started with

sexually explicit movements and scantily dressed people - a theme

that continued throughout the program. It concluded with crotch grabbing,

lewd lyrics, and Janet Jackson rubbing her rear end against Timberlake's

pelvis. Yet after all of this, a partially exposed nipple created a stir.

Frankly, you could see more breast at a local basketball game from women

feeding their infants. What is it about the breast that got everyone so

upset?

You can't tell me that

MTV and CBS didn't have some idea of what they were getting themselves

into. Almost since its inception, MTV has had a reputation for pushing

the envelope with programs like "Jackass" where people acquire

fame for their stupidity. Likewise, any casual perusal of the lyrics by

most of the artists on the halftime platform should have given one the

idea that explicit sexuality would be a part of the show.

Janet Jackson has performed

many songs with exceptionally explicit sexual content and she has posed

quasi-nude on at least one album cover (not to mention posing partially

nude for other publications). Finally, rappers aren't exactly known

for their puritan lyrics and gyrations. How could anyone be surprised?

Didn't CBS know whom they were getting? Of course they did. In fact,

everything except the actual baring of the breast was rehearsed.

I was amused by the comments

of FCC Chairman Michael Powell. In his initial statement on the Monday

following the event, he said that he was watching the program with his

family and was offended by the stunt. Apparently after all of the profanity,

sexual suggestion, graphic violence, promiscuity, adulterous behavior,

and so forth that are a steady part of television viewing - and after

watching 20 minutes of men grabbing their crotches, women strutting on

stage just short of naked, and simulated sexual intercourse between Timberlake

and Jackson, he was suddenly offended by a nipple? Give me a break. In

my opinion the bare breast was one of the very least offensive things

in the program. (To give Powell credit where it is due, several days later

he delivered another statement to the press saying the whole "on-stage

copulation" performance by the duo was offensive.)

How upset are we really? Not

very if you consider the fact that this was the most replayed TiVo event

ever. Similarly, Janet Jackson's bare breast was the most searched

Internet image ever - including 9/11 images. Based on these facts, we

apparently wanted to be repeatedly offended.

I am not lobbying for nudity

on television by any means. I am proposing, however, that if we really

are offended, if this behavior is really so unreasonable, we have a lot

of accounting to do in these other areas. Musicians, producers, television

shows and movies are totally driven by consumer demand. If we wouldn't

watch it, play it, or buy it, they couldn't afford to produce it.

We can most quickly demonstrate our outrage by exercising our option to

leave the TV off.

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