Since others are weighing in, I need to vent feelings as well.
Given that this was certainly in bad taste, there are several aspects of this which are bothering me, and I thought I'd share.
JJ has fallen on her sword in public and the bloodletting ha not stopped. Why? Because ChiefPam is right in that she's become the symbol for all that is tasteless and crass in the US entertainment industry.
What bugs me, is that so much else is bad too, and she ought not be the only scapegoat. Also offensive ought to be KidRock's stars-n-stripes poncho (flag desecration) over a skimpy wifebeater shirt (where he definitely was showing nipple)...Britney's flesh colored "Toxic" body stocking... Nelly's crotch grab... one funny description of the whole Superbowl went like this: "Violence, violence, violence, aggression, coach mouthing obscenity, beer commercial, cheerleader, cheerleader, beer commercial, violence, aggression, commercial with horse igniting woman with its flatulence, violence, cheerleader, beer commercial, DIRTY FILTHY T**TY MY GOD WHO WILL THINK OF THE CHILDREN, violence, aggression, beer commercial."
There was no fondling or simulated s*x onstage. It was just her breast. For One Second. If you saw her body language - bowed head, hunched shoulders, hands clutching breast and belly protectively -- this is not the posture of someone who was proud and premeditated about having it all hang out. I'm sad that it is being framed as a publicity stunt by Nasty Miss Jackson, and Justin Had Nothing To Do With It.
Now, there is an impending FCC investigation. A woman's breast is so threatening that CBS may be fined millions. Now I know that *nursing your baby* in public is still not legal in parts of the US, and that according to the corporate machine breasts exist only to sell beer. But the fact remains that there is no-one who doesn't know what they are --either you were nurtured by a pair during infancy or you own a pair yourself.
What bugs me the most is that this stupid thing has generated more interest (and expressions of regret) from on high than did the whole trumped-up march to war. Janet Jackson is the missing WMD: The Weapon of Mammary Distraction.
