In a country where two actors were forced last month to apologize for “slut-shaming,” a fictional character from a super-hero movie, nothing should surprise anyone any longer.
Once Jeremy Renner and Chris Evans issued retractions and regret for having slandered “Black Widow,” a non-existent (in the real world) person, America took one more tiny step towards mass implosion. Lest you think it stopped there, the stupidity has continued.
Last week, actor Simon Pegg (who plays Engineer Scotty in the current reboot of the Star Trek movies) made the following observation:
“…part of me looks at society as it is now and just thinks we’ve been infantilized by our own taste…Now we’re essentially all consuming very childish things—comic books, superheroes…Adults are watching this stuff, and taking it seriously!…It is a kind of dumbing down in a way. Because it’s taking our focus away from real-world issues…”
To me, this is a reasoned starting point for an intellectual conversation; here we have the opportunity to discuss the importance of escapism, as provided by movies, entertainment, and fantasy, versus the very real possibility that too many of us are escaping too much, too far, and as a result, are too far gone. This seems like a debate worth having, with many potential layers. But that’s just me.
Pegg was pilloried for his musings and forced to apologize.
Why, you ask? Well, for one, he had the audacity to speak his mind. Secondly, his expression of thought offended people and that is illegal in modern society, unless and until you completely and unequivocally retract and apologize for your statements. I mean, c’mon, people…we forced two of the biggest actors of modern day to apologize for calling a comic book character a slut (who, by the way, is a total slut in those same comic books).
Thus, Pegg released the following statement to save his career:
“It has come to my attention that the (media) picked up on some controversial comments I made…The ‘dumbing down’ comment came off as a huge generalization by an A-grade asshorn. I did not mean that science fiction or fantasy are dumb, far from it…I love Science Fiction and fantasy and do not think it’s all childish. I do not think it is all generated by dominant forces as a direct means of control…much. I am still a nerd and proud.”
And for five days since that statement was released, sci-fi nerds have been debating whether or not to let Simon Pegg back into the “cool kids club.” I shit you not.
Enter Beyoncé, and the further dumbing down of America.
I was once a huge fan of Beyoncé’s, both musically and esthetically. She has since become some sort of annoyance to me; perhaps I deem her too big for her britches, perhaps I am so turned off by her choice in men, or perhaps her blatant hypocrisy on almost every issue that comes her way makes my blood boil. Whatever it is, I still respect the hell out of her and her husband for all they’ve earned and their talent. But that’s just me.
Last week, Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé released their video for “Feeling Myself” and there’s a picture going around from the filming, where Beyoncé empties an expensive bottle of champagne into a hot tub. It’s a bottle of Armand de Brignac, a.k.a. ‘Ace of Spades’ . . . and a single bottle could cost anywhere from $300 to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
People freaked out online about it, saying things like: “Beyoncé, pouring my college tuition fees into a hot tub”. . .and, “Even just $1,000 could have completely changed someone’s life . . . like a chance at college or maybe finally being able to eat lunch. So seeing her pour out a $20,000 bottle into a pool is a slap in the face.”
In the end, Beyoncé later clarified it was “only” a $300 bottle, but that isn’t really the point, is it? The point is that this stupid country is overpopulated with envy filled dolts who have no concept of reality. These are the same assjacks that demand McDonald’s double their minimum wage while at the same time insist a Big Mac must cost $2. Grow the F*%k up, people.
Beyoncé didn’t pour anyone’s college tuition into a tub, she poured a pittance of what she’s worth and has earned into a tub (while filming a music video, thus it’s all tax deductible, mind you. That little tidbit has to really piss people off if they ever realize it. Glad I could help).
You, moronic Tweeter, poured your own tuition into a tub by not working hard enough. Sadly, you should have learned long before high school that life isn’t fair and blah blah blah. I’ve resorted now to no more than two sentence arguments because the attention span of idiotic, envious Americans is limited to about 8 words, blah blah, blah.
It seemingly never ends and there is no end in sight. The smallest, tiniest thing offends even one person and everyone rushes to the defense of the offended for the offender must be a bully or a shamer or some other made-up word we’ll create any minute now to make people feel bad about their opinions or success. Blah Blah Blah.
