A question about boobgate.

[MikeG]

I was all loaded for bear about how the right wingers were using this boobgate as another of their big issues to pound the liberals when my secretary told me that her 12 year old daughter was watching the show, saw the exposed boob, and was confused why this was happening.

I am for free speech like everyone else, have voted almost exclusively for Democrats, will vote this year for a Democrat, but shouldn't broadcast networks have to be more careful?

[tigereye]

1. in a way it's not that far from the content of the half-time show

itself, all the talk about sex, and then there's a breast. Ironic in a way. But maybe it raises some good questions for the youngsters about what is promoted by certain aspects of our culture. We love to talk about sex, but...god forbid. I think we are an extremely puritanical culture, despite all our protests to the contrary.

[StClone]

5. Good Point

All this allusions to sex, sex, sex and then a harmless little nipple makes an appearnance and my Goodness its as if they killed someone. Come to think of it killing someone on tv is manditory. We are so Freaked when an innocent little nip is like a school shooting.

[Intelsucks]

6. Not to mention that all of the men on stage were wearing womens'

clothes.:eyes:

[Merrick]

2. sadly

bad artists who make bad music (see all that played the SB) that rely on image, hype and spectacle to sell their lousy records will find a way to circumvent whatever measures are installed to pull off some stunt that's "wild" and "provocative". And naturally the networks will officially denounce the act while secretly celebrating their bigger ratings.

[Lefty48197]

Judging by the TV coverage, boobs on TV are the biggest problem we have

That explains why we have people like George Bush and Tom DeLay running the country.

[trotsky]

3. Excuse me, but...

what do Democrats and voting Democratic have to do with it? People on all areas of the political spectrum were outraged. People on all areas of the political spectrum thought it was no big deal. Several uber-rightwing coworkers of mine thought it was pretty cool, in fact.

The overall "problem" is that we live in a free market economy. If there's a market for something, then someone will put a product in it. It happens legally (cars, groceries, back scratchers) and it happens illegally (prostitution, drugs, black market). Sex sells. Sex gets attention. Partially because we're so prudish about it to begin with - the taboo is always more attractive than the norm.

[MikeG]

7. The point is timing. Is this the image of women that we want a 12 year

old girl to see. Letting a man rip off her top live on TV?

[trotsky]

8. My question still stands.

Why you bring up the subject of voting for Democrats? There have been lots of Republicans AND Democrats who expressed their disapproval of the event.

[MikeG]

9. Because I want to make sure that you don't assume that I'm a

knee-jerk conservative. I normally would not object to what happened on Sunday. If it was on cable, no problem. I am upset that it gives right wingers a free shot. However, timing is everything. This should not have been put in front of an audience not expecting it. As much as I hate to admit it, the stinking right wingers have a point.

[trotsky]

10. There's a bigger issue here.

The same people moaning about how horrible this was, have no qualms whatsoever with the violence in Iraq, which we now find was completely unjustified.

Children in Europe see nudity "unexpectedly" all the time. It's on commercials, for crying out loud. It's on the cover of magazines, displayed right there on the corner newsstand in broad daylight.

That same Super Bowl broadcast featured not only a game based on brutal physical contact but many commercials that showed us things like a man getting bitten in the crotch by a dog, Mike Ditka talking "at length" about his erection, sexy women prancing around in less overall clothing than Janet Jackson was wearing, and plenty o' booze. If you're letting your kid watch all that, and being shocked and surprised by Ms. Jackson's stunt, well glory be that's hypocritical.

[MikeG]

12. I have big qualms about the violence in Iraq. We should never have

invaded Iraq. But I would rather the networks show all see the bloody bodies our policies made, and have the horror shock us into peace.

Shocking a 12 year old girl is another story. They should have been more careful. The difference is that the "stunt" will linger with her.

[baldguy]

4. What? Don't you think huge corporations

will ALWAYS do what's in the best interest of the public? After all, the Bushies let Hallibuton and Enron write the law they operate under, and nobody said anything about it.

Janet's boobie has given a load of publicity to CBS, the NFL, AOL, MTV, and every other company that advertised on it. And there's no such thing as bad publicity.

[Rex]

11. Why is the female breast such an adult topic in the first place?

And who made it be this way? I've seen a lot of guys who could use a bra.

[MercutioATC]

13. It wasn't the breast, it was the man ripping the clothing off...

Frank;y, I have no problem with my 13-year-old son seeing a TLC program on something that shows a breast. A man and woman dancing on stage, especially when the man tears off the woman's clothing, is a little different, I think.

I've seen the "babies see breasts" posts, but I sincerely feel this is a completely different issue. The wasn't the breast, but the manner in which is was exposed.