I'm a big Sheryl Crow fan and heard her song Steve McQueen the other day. It's half anthem of rocker-rebellion and half tribute to a Hollywood King of Cool.
Crow's music is great but her lyrics might be better, and I was struck by the following lines from the song:
"We've got rock stars in the White House, but all our pop stars look like porn.
All my heroes hit the highway - they don't hang out here anymore".
All our pop stars look like porn...................
A walk down most grocery store check-out lines confirms that, and recent news on the pop culture front speaks of our continued slide. It goes without saying that cultural erosion is not a gender issue, but this latest news happened to involve Hollywood and young women. I see there are two prime time cable shows that are going to be based on the lives and - ah - careers of high priced prostitutes. LOVELY - I suppose we should send Eliot Spitzer a thank you note for this enlightened programming development.
So what's the big deal?
Well - you don't need to look very far to see the impact that our entertainment saturated and media-driven culture is having on real life. In New Jersey recently a group of young teenage girls were discovered to be circulating topless pictures of themselves throughout their middle school for no other reason than they thought it would be chique. Meanwhile at a High School Prom in Texas, a female student was barred from attending the dance because her dress was too risque (kudos to the school officials). I was doing some paperwork and watching the news when they showed a picture of the young lady. The - er - dress, was something you would expect to see on a Paris runway model - not so much a garment as a few strategically located pieces of fabric.
Regardless of where we fall on the social/political spectrum, I believe most of us can recognize such developments as inherently negative and disturbing. Our pop culture is teaching America's girls that the way to be desirable is to display themselves as street toughs who scorn any hint of reserve or, dare I say it, feminine charm.
And that's kind of a shame, don't you think?
