Mzansi Afrika

Madonna kiss vs. Janet Jackson breast

According to Powell, Justin Timberlake's exposure of Janet Jackson's right breast during the closing moments of the halftime show "wasn't even the most offensive part." Powell claims that "the whole performance was onstage copulation." Onstage copulation? Isn't that the definition of "music video?" Apparently Mr. Powell is unfamiliar with most of the MTV oeuvre. Was the halftime show unsuitable for the millions of small children watching? Sure. But so are half the shows on prime-time television. And more importantly, the First Amendment provides that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." How, then, can the FCC impose fines on the halftime performers and broadcasters, as it has threatened to do? The late Justice Hugo Black, who fashioned himself a First Amendment absolutist, liked to dismiss arguments for censorship by waving the Constitution and exclaiming that "'no law' means no law." But his brethren did not agree, and so, notwithstanding the First Amendment, Jackson, Timberlake and the broadcasters may indeed find themselves in hot water.
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Jackson. That name again. But let me roll back a bit. I was preparing a course on harassment the other day, when I came across an article talking about the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake incident. During the Superbowl's half-time events, Timberlake had ripped off Jackson's bustier toward the end of their raunchy number, revealing her right breast. This BBC article further tells us that 

During the half-time show, Timberlake reached out and grabbed at Jackson's leather bustier, forcing her to cover herself up* before the stage lights were quickly dimmed*. CBS said officials had watched rehearsals and had no indication of the nature of the performance during the half-time show. And NFL officials were also angry at what had happened during the broadcast, watched by millions of families.*  

The course I was preparing was going to be about harassment and America's First Amendment. I decided to use the article as an additional angle, a different way of looking at how the First Amendment considers harassment. For example, don't other laws duct-tape the mouth of the harasser, thereby denying him or her their right to free expression? Nevertheless, I went digging for more material. I stumbled onto the Madonna/Britney/Christina tongue kiss performance of "Like a Virgin." Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were dressed in white, "like virgins," while Madonna was dressed in black leather. The latter first gave Britney Spears an open-mouth kiss, then gave same to Christina Aguilera. An excerpt from CBS News says, 

Twenty years after the first MTV Video Music Awards, and not much has changed — Madonna still makes jaws drop and cheeks blush. Just like her first time, the superstar upstaged everyone at the 20th annual MTV Video Music Awards, only she had help Thursday night from the latest generation of video divas, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Proving they've come a long way from their Mouseketeer days, the young pop tarts gave a gyrating, writhing tribute to Madonna to open the show. Dressed in the same kind of white bustier wedding dress Madonna wore while performing "Like a Virgin" during MTV's inaugural awards broadcast in 1984, Spears and Aguilera sang a cover of the not-so-innocent tune. Then, while Madonna sang her new "Hollywood" in a masculine, all-black groom's outfit*, she shared an openmouthed kiss with both Aguilera and Spears*. The two smooches rivaled the Michael Jackson/Lisa Marie Presley kiss at the awards in 1994 on the shock meter.
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I have not seen the Michael Jackson/Lisa Marie Presley kiss, but I wonder what it was like, for it to reach such heights on the shock meter. It is of course clearer than a bell to me why the three-girl kiss went up the same meter. The same goes for Janet Jackson's peek-a-boob. USA Today, among others, says that 

It was the climax of an opening number that began with Spears and Aguilera, both in bridal attire, crooning 'Like a Virgin,' the hit performed by Madonna at the first VMAs. But it was ultimately stolen by Madonna herself, by comparison a model of old-school glamour and class*, even in a modified groom's outfit that made her resemble a well-heeled dominatrix.
[Read on]  

I discovered with stupor that there actually weren't that many journalists who had written articles to the effect that it is bad to have three girls tongue-kissing on a show that is more than mainly for kids. Two girls is bad, too. A boy and a girl isn't all that great, either. On the other hand, there are quite a few articles that trash Janet's peek-a-boob, although we learn that it wasn't rehearsed and that she immediately covered it and that the cameras immediately zoomed onto something else. Is it the Jackson name, or is it the racist issue? The white trio of girl/girl/girl is actually praised in many of the articles, while the mixed-colour duo of boy/girl is heavily trashed, and required to apologise, and to pay a fine. Don't take my word for it. Read a few of the articles yourself.

On The Trio:

• MADONNA and Britney Spears stole the show at the MTV Video Music Awards when they shared an open-mouthed kiss on stage.
• Spears said she was surprised that the lip-lock garnered so much buzz -- and that the moment was more than a quick peck.
• But the trio did have a surprise in store. Madonna had come as the man—the sugar daddy, maybe, twirling the little girls, keeping them in line, and finally kissing Spears. She also kissed Aguilera, to be fair, but the camera barely registered it, and we all know that Madonna has long leered at Britney. Britney swooned into the kiss, her mouth soft.
• "I find it hornier looking at women then [sic] men. Sorry, I love experimenting with my sexuality. If that means girls then so be it. "I'd kiss a girl again. The Madonna thing was a one-off but girls are nice to kiss -- nice and soft. I was up for kissing Britney but Britney wasn't." Christina also admitted: "I have casual sex, I love casual sex. But that doesn't mean I'm incapable of keeping my legs together."
• The kiss proved to be a real showstopper in last month's awards ceremony, with 21-year-old Spears' former boyfriend Justin Timberlake watching dumbfounded from the audience.
• A gum-smacking Britney Spears told CNN Wednesday that she has never before kissed a woman and never would again -- unless the woman is Madonna. The pop star exchanged a prolonged, open-mouth kiss* with the Material Girl during MTV's Music Video Awards show last week.
• Who's the better kisser? Madonna or actor Colin Farrell? "Oh my gosh!" Spears exclaimed. "They're both amazing kissers!"

On The Duo:

• Powell said he was watching the game Sunday evening with his two children and found the incident "outrageous." I knew immediately it would cause great outrage among the American people, which it did," [Powell] said, citing "thousands" of complaints received by Monday morning. "We have a very angry public on our hands.
• CBS, MTV, the NFL, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake all say they're sorry -- but none of that is deterring the federal government from looking into the Super Bowl's too-revealing halftime show.
• "I am outraged at what I saw during the halftime show of the Super Bowl," Federal Communications Commission chief Michael Powell--son of Secretary of State Colin Powell--said in a statement issued on Monday (2/2). "Like millions of Americans, my family and I were gathered around the television for a celebration. Instead, that celebration was tainted by a classless, crass and deplorable stunt."
• Most Americans think the exposure of Janet Jackson's right breast during the Super Bowl halftime show was crass, but few believe it's a federal case.
• Justin Timberlake has apologised after ripping off Janet Jackson's top and exposing her right breast at the end of her live Super Bowl half time performance.
• Janet Jackson's boobylicious performance with Justin Timberlake     at the Super Bowl halftime show has sparked a federal investigation and set new standards for raunch in an entertainment industry that seems to be setting new highs -- or lows every day.
• Jackson later admitted the stunt was devised beforehand, but "went further than she planned". According to her spokeswoman, a red lace bra was supposed to remain when Timberlake tore off the outer covering. Timberlake blamed the incident on a "wardrobe malfunction".

* The italics and the asterisks are mine, and serve to bring out what I find controversial, telling or important toward a better understanding of the discrepancy I find in these two similar yet so very different issues.

Freedom is indeed an elusive concept,and one that is also hard to describe. I think that every man and woman who is truly free feels it, feels the liberty, and the one who is not free also feels the non-liberty, so to speak. It is describing it that is hard.

One can make a list of little freedoms to describe the parent concept, but there's always that grey area. It is one of the reasons the subject of the American First Amendment vs. Harassment intrigued me, and got me on the Internet doing research. In the particular cases of the Trio and Duo, is the former not freer than the latter? Why are so many people gunning for the man/woman duo who showed a girl's breast, and bravoing the woman/woman/woman trio who tongue-kissed?

Is it just possible that if Justine, who is white, had ripped a white woman's bra off, the uproar would have been much less, or inexistant? Or is the discrepancy due to gender? Three women doing things on stage in front of millions are appreciated mainly by men, while a man/woman couple doing things on stage is not for the exclusive enjoyment of men. Since men run most all institutions...

(NB: This article was written a short while after the events took place, and updated on 3 April 2006.)

20 questions for president Bush

Arianna Huffington has twenty questions for President George W. Bush. As is usually the case on the Huffington Post Blog, the comments are worth a look, too, sometimes as much as the post itself. Ms Huffington, among others questions, asks this one, "Yes or no, are we building permanent military bases in Iraq? If yes, how many?"

Black clubs and things

More often than not, it bothers me when I find Black people having Black things, like black clubs, or black blog-rings, and so on. What really gets to me is the fact that it would bother me to find White people having White things, like white clubs, or white blog-rings, and so on. I'd rather see California blog-rings, or Moldavian clubs, and so on.

Mind you, it can very easily be argued that Black folks can and should do so. Any minority, for that matter. Otherwise how else can they turn around and beat the odds? How can they "help themselves" in the face of what they and their ancestors are enduring and have endured? Even in the face of that valid argument, it still bothers me that the label is colour rather than a region, or a common activity.

Besides, in my experience, especially in the United States, White clubs and many other White groups have been anything but positive. You can have your Black Student Association, for example, most of whose meetings and get-togethers will be about Kwaanza and a holiday for Martin Luther King. Your average White Student Association, on the other hand, would most probably spend its meetings and get-togethers telling racist jokes and chanting Nazi songs.

Which brings us back to the flipside of the argument about minorities needing perhaps to have clubs in order to better fend for themselves. And the flipside is of course that White folks in America have little to fend themselves against, so that when they do have a club its principal activity will certainly not be to fight for the recognition of St Patrick's Day or for the right to celebrate Columbus Day or something of the sort.

South Africa is the only country on the African continent where Black and White folks mix in a manner that can be compared to that of the United States, albeit with reverse population percentages. How does this kind of situation play out in South Africa? Do universities have colour clubs and unions? How was the situation before the first free election in 1994? How do White South Africans feel about Black groups?

Countering xenophobia

I happened to stumble accross a website for the DFW (Dallas Fort Worth) International Community Alliance in North Texas. The website serves a community in which 40% of the residents are immigrants from around the world, mainly developing countries. What I find so interesting is that the aim of the alliance is to bring these communities together with eachother, and with the American locals so that the immigrants are accepted and integrated into society. Considering the problems with xenophobia and racism in Europe, particularly the recent riots and car torchings in France, this is a really amazing initiative. According to the website:

The Mission of DFW International is to promote and link North Texas ethnic and immigrant groups, empowering them as respected members of the community and giving them a forum through which to express, share and celebrate the richness of their cultural heritages...For eight years DFW International has used the arts, technology, and education to connect schools, researchers, journalists, and civic organizations with grassroots ethnic communities. We also help ethnic arts groups share their traditional arts with the public and expand their audience base beyond community boundaries. We believe that communications and mutual respect among all of our peoples are crucial to DFW's continued growth and development as a richly diverse society and strong player in the global marketplace.

The North Texas area is home to 1600 different ethnic groups which includes 1 million Mexicans, including 300,000 people from the state of Guanajuato, 60 000 Chinese-Americans, about 50 000 Iranians and a similar number of Pakistanis, 80 000 people of Vietnamese descent and nearly 100 000 people from India.

Even more interesting to me are the African communities, 450 Gambians, 8000 people from Ghana, 300 Ivorians, 25 000 Nigerians,  200 Senegalese, 4000 from Sierra Leone, 5000 South Africans, 1500 Ugandans and 3000 Zimbabweans.   

Some of the cultural activities advertised on the website include a South Asian travelling film festival, the opening of a Native American Arts Center & Gallery, a 1st Friday African Village Night with Kumaasi, and a Jingle Bells on Bishop with Venezuelan Group "La Parranda".

If only there were more initiatives like this. South Africa could certainly take a leaf out of DFW's book considering the way we treat our immigrants.