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February 15, 2004

NFL: Sex & Violence- no AIDS

Thank you Frank Rich, who ridicules the horror of the chattering classes at seeing Janet Jackson's boob amid the flatulence ads and sublimated sex of cheerleaders and performances. But here's the kicker-- the NFL eagerly wanted MTV's youth demographic, but pre-censored any appeal to charity and compassion:

[T]he league's commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, released a statement saying, "We're pleased to work again with MTV" when announcing the encore. Or pleased up to a point. When MTV proposed that part of the show be devoted to a performance of the song "An American Prayer" by Bono to increase awareness of the horrific AIDS epidemic in Africa, the N.F.L. said no — even though Bono had done the league the favor of giving the 2002 Super Bowl halftime show a dignified musical tribute to the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

This is the outrage. Millions are dying in Africa, MTV wanted to educate the NFL public to this horror, and the NFL powers-that-be refused to allow it.

Boom. Anyone who now sees Janet Jackson's exposure of a breast as the serious outrage of that event is a moral cripple.

Concerned about "the children"?-- worry about real children dying of AIDS (whose funding for help was just cut in Bush's budget), not imagined children harmed by a one-second flash of flesh.

Posted by Nathan at February 15, 2004 08:02 AM

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