Katy Perry, The Great Circus, and A Red Marionette

(WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT)

P.T. Barnum, you fool. Did it ever strike you what kind of a world you were bringing us with your spectacles? Every roar of the audience was another pen-stroke in a national tragedy.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I apologize. Mr. Barnum put on circuses and shows during the 1800s.  He was good at it. He was very good at it. He knew how to work up the masses, and put on shows that would send shock waves throughout the nation- and waves of dollars coming back to the origin. We get our word “jumbo” from an elephant he featured that was bigger than many had ever seen before. He was the consummate showman.

By now you want to know why I put Katy Perry in the title. I just read an article about the Sesame Street incident, and watched the video. For those who don’t know, the pop singer sang with Elmo on Sesame Street, performing one of her singles adapted for children. The neckline on Katy’s dress revealed what good King Solomon referred to as “twin fawns, the young of a gazelle that browse among the lilies.” (Song of Songs 4:5)

The folks at Sesame Street thought there should have been a few more lilies to hide them. So they cut the scene. And now it’s the latest headline on the Internet. If YouTube isn’t already bursting with skits and satires about it, it will be in the next couple of weeks. 

And when Lady GaGa comes out with her next music video, we’ll ignore Ms. Perry the way we drop a hot potato, and if you don’t remember a single other thing from this post, remember that. 

Our culture has become Barnum’s circus. His descendents of spirit know his tricks, and now that there’s more room for the real motivator, sex, they’ve gone wild. Now they have millions hooked on their big circus. All these foolish little headlines, all these desperate grabs for recognition, the stunts, the shocks, the controversies, the gossip… where does it end? I just watched this girl, one of my generation, making a fool of herself, breasts poking out for all the world to see and giggle at as she chases Elmo through a bluescreen-powered city street.

This circus has gone too far. We wanted excitement, and we got it, and we want more. When Katy gets old, and Katy gets thrown away like Elmo eventually will be, too many people are going to be staring at the next big act to care for her pain. If that is not subhuman, please show me what is.

If you want to see for yourself, follow the link (WARNING: cleavage, as I described). If you want to speak your mind, comment away.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHROHJlU_Ng