It's safe to say that, if a plebiscite on Janet Jackson's Super Bowl strip show could be held today in the US, majorities in the "red" (conservative) states would express opposition, while majorities in the "blue" (liberal) states would express support (no pun intended).
Marvin Olasky's entry in the World Magazine Blog summarizes the red state position well:
Given that America is a liberty theme park and that we've forgotten the distinction between liberty and license, gross jokes as well as enticements to adultery are inevitable, somewhere. The question is where. Christians do need to lighten up at times and not get overwrought about all the craziness around us, but why can't networks have a modicum of respect for the values of many television viewers?
Fathers and sons bond while watching football games; why must we lose the liberty to enjoy that without bombardment by crud? Our goal should be containment. Given the apparent inevitability of prostitution, why not keep it in the red-light district? Given the apparent inevitability of Internet porn, why must it be just one click away? And given Janet Jackson's apparent desire to expose her breast, why can't she do it on pay-per-view?
Conservatives understand context is crucial in sexual matters; that keeping sex private is a mark of civilization, of Man's moral obligation to behave like a human made in God's image rather than just one more animal species. This point is lost on most liberals, however. The Left's main problem with America is that we are not sufficiently "European," particularly as to public nudity and sexuality. Many on the Left will see Janet as a sort of Rosa Parks of public porn, a heroine who tried to bring enlightened European sexual culture to the benighted, backward, puritan US.
But where is Europe's early 21st Century ethic of hedonism uber alles taking it? To the same place its early 20th Century embrace of hedonism took it: enslavement to fascism. Islamo-fascism is poised to dominate Europe within 50 years, but the Europeans are too busy with six-week vacations, sex, food and nude beaches to care. The demands of aggressively opposing the growing evil in their midst would ruin all their fun. This is one of the main reasons they so hate President Bush. He's a big killjoy who wants to fight evil. Like the young pre-war Scarlet O'Hara, the Euros whine that "This war talk is ruining every party this season."
Amazingly, this is the ethic the American Left wants to bring to the US.
Ironically, sexual liberty is the only liberty the Left believe in. By their lights, the only sex that is wrong is sex that is "unsafe," but they have no tolerance for most other freedoms.
The Left has expressed, in one form or another and to one degree or another, opposition to: free markets, freedom of political speech, freedom to use tobacco, freedom to eat unhealthy food, freedom to choose a silicone breast implant, freedom to view even righteous violence in entertainment, freedom to keep earned wages, freedom to drive an SUV, freedom of school choice, freedom to publically acknowledge God, freedom to opt out of the government's retirement plan, freedom to think thoughts they find "hateful" - the list will never be complete. But I digress.
If hedonism existed as a free-standing phenomenon, perhaps it would be inconsequential, but because it inevitably results in an aversion to fighting evil (not to mention the destruction of marriage and family institutions), a European-style hedonistic ethic must be fought.
Focus on the Family has set up a utility with which you can with one click send the same e-mail to to MTV Chairman Tom Freston, CBS President Leslie Moonves and Sumner Redstone (CEO of Viacom, which owns both CBS and MTV). FCC Chairman Michael Powell correctly characterized the whole Jackson-Timberlake et al performance as "onstage copulation." Let the entertainment moguls know that such antics do not belong on the public airwaves, and ask your representatives to formulate and enforce laws preventing a repeat performance.
Update: Here's a Focus on the Family link for contacting the NFL.
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