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I now consider this blog to be my Juvenelia. Have fun perusing the archives, and find me at my new haunt, here.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Madonna: The Dateline Interview With Meredith Viera

Rant of the Day.

Just turned off the tube. Fellow-ette thought that this latest round Madonna's "adoption tour" was an absolutely catty, nasty, idiotic interview under the guise of hard-hitting "journalism." How is it good journalism to literally be the voice of the status quo, criticizing celebrtities because it's du jour to criticize them, instead of coming up with your own acutally interesting questions? If Viera's supposed to be tops at what she does, why is she just re-phrasing claims printed in tabloids as though they're insightful?

The worst part, by far was when she chided Madge for making too many statements over the course of her career--- and NOT SPENDING ENOUGH TIME WITH HER CHILDREN! Eeek! Where are Viera's children when she's making the dough trashing celebrities on her faux-news shows? Sitting, hidden, on mamas's lap?
It was such a profoundly conservative moment, and the fact that it was one woman criticizing another rankled the feminist in me considerably. It felt like 1952, with a dose of hypocrisy thrown in for good measure.

Then there was the host's chastisement of Madonna for letting her new child wear a Kabbalah bracelet (what if poor David wants to grow up Christian?), for crucifying herself onstage and offending the Vatican (Hello, her name is Madonna, I think she stopped caring about pissing off the Vatican a looong time ago.) It was a whole night of winners.

The interview as done was a waste of airtime... but could we expect less from anyone save Colbert or Stewart? Yes, Madonna has a saint complex, yes she's a tad affected, but yes, she's also done a fucking great job of entertaining, provoking, and inspiring us for a long time now, and she's never been afraid to say what's on her mind, be herself proudly, make an ass of herself, and brush herself off. The chanteuse has consistently refused to conform, and she's grown up and matured visibly, which makes her almost a role model. In a lot of ways, she's no different from a figure like John Lennon, who did and said plenty of frivolous or foolish things along with wise ones... but like Madonna, never denied that he was only human (that was the fans).

Madge, I love you. Meredith, you're dead to me. Barbara Walters, you'll never be.

And finally, on the trend of celebrities caring about Africa that has some people rankled: Since our world's wealthy governments don't seem to care enough, and are letting people die by the hundreds and hundreds of thousands, the fact that sheltered celebrities are spending so much time and resources on the continent that's troubled as a result of Western Imperialism can only be a good thing... right?

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