Bush: “A Retarded Cowboy”
Mike: “Damn my brother sucks at basketball. He’s always turning the ball over and he can’t make a single shot”
Tito: “Yea, man. Your brother plays like a girl!”
Mike: “What did you say about my brother! Don’t you ever talk about my brother again, you hear me!”
Does this sound familiar to you at all? I’m quite sure it does. We are all quick to judge and criticize, especially the ones we love the most. I get frustrated with my mom, girlfriend, or brother all the time. I even catch myself saying, “OMG, she is so annoying” to my friends. However, if anyone ever talked bad about my girlfriend or family, I would be quick to shut them up and put them in their place right away.
Enter this guy:
(This video will probably be taken down off of YouTube soon. If it does, please let me know and I’ll find another one)
Russell Brand was the host for the MTV VMAs this past Sunday. Now, I thought the guy was hilarious in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but the things he said during his stand-up was surprisingly offensive; offensive not to me, but to the Y-Gen:
- He said, “Please vote for Obama…The American people are open-minded because they elected a retarded cowboy for 8 years”
- He made fun of the Jonas Brothers for pledging to be virgins until marriage
- He made fun of Palin’s daughter for being pregnant and made fun of Republicans
Retarded Cowboy
Ok, I do not like Bush and I think he IS retarded; however, this is a direct parrallel to the example above with Mike and Tito. Here is a guy from England, coming into the states to give a presentation live on MTV. There are millions of people watching this show, millions of people in our generation. This is the first time our generation has gotten the chance to become actively involved with politics and have actually been given the opportunity to have our voices heard. For MTV to allow this fool from England to get up on stage and do some lame ass joke about our commander and chief and about how we the American people are idiots for electing him is just plain ridiculous. Who is this guy to come into MY country and make fun of MY president? Yes, my president is a complete idiot, but this is still my country and I don’t want you coming in here and making fun of us in front of millions of people. How would YOU like it if I went to England and made fun of the Prime Minister or the Queen?
Although I try to avoid MTV, and can’t helped to be hooked on shows like the Hills (Yes, I admit it). Because MTV has such a large audience encompassing our generation, they have a huge responsibility to make sure that our generation is pushed in the right moral and ethical direction. Which brings me to my next point…
This post was published on Brazen Careerist where it got a lot of comments and has helped me rethink what I wrote above. I think I went off on a tangent about how only Americans can criticize Americans. I do NOT think that and I really should erase it from my blog post. However, I will not do that because this is a learning experience for me. My friend Torbjorn just said a funny comment that got me thinking: “Now everyone thinks your an angry Nationalist.” Dammit! That’s not what I was trying to convey and by re-reading the post, I can totally understand how it came across that way.
The point that I was trying to make was MTV has a huge responsibility for being such an influential power to the Y-Gen. All of us at Brazen Careerist are deeply involved with politics, keep up to date with the news, and use our blogs as a platform to convey our well thought out opinions (I should have thought out my opinions much better before I wrote this post :P). But for the rest of the younger generation, they mindlessly listen to what MTV has to say. I feel that when a host takes the stage, he inevitably becomes to voice of the network that he is speaking for. When Russell spoke, he spoke as “an ambassador of the world.” Yea, I understand that he was joking, but I think the younger generation might take this joke the wrong way. They might start believing that our generation still thinks about politics in a joking manner, that we should pressure people into having sex, and that teen pregnancy is a laughing manner.
Thanks to everyone for all of your great comments because they have really helped me to grow with my writing and make sure that I convey my actual point in every post.
Jonas Brothers have no balls
Ok, I’m going to admit that I DO NOT like the Jonas Brothers. I do not like their music at all; however, I do respect them for writing their own music. I think that writing your own music instead of having someone feed you the material to become famous is very admirable. Secondly, I personally don’t understand how a man can choose to not have sex until marriage. To me, it’s like seriously repressing your natural instincts and going against nature.
So what Russell does is go on live television and start blasting the Jonas Brothers for choosing to not have sex before they get married. This is on MTV, where millions of people in our generation are watching live! Our generation is constantly pressured into having sex when we don’t want to, we have to deal with sexual harassment, and the threat of contracting an STD. MTV has a huge responsibility to teach abstinense and emotionally support the people in our generation who are choosing to be abstinent. I think it is SO hard for them to choose that way of life because the pressures to have sex are so overwhelming!
Now here comes Russell Brand and literally tells every man in America that if he is not having sex by the time he is a teenager, he doesn’t deserve his balls. What!!! How did MTV allow this to happen? The host is supposed to make fun of celebrities for things like getting caught walking bare foot to the womens bathroom, for getting bad plastic surgery, or for making a commercial about running for president. Making fun of someone for choosing not to have sex is like making fun of someone for being bulimic or making fun of a religious perference. You have no class Russell
Teen Pregnancy
Another topic that MTV is supposed to help and support our generation with. My argument for this point is pretty much the same as the one above, but I want to list it so that you can feel the importance of it.
MTV, you have let the Y-Gen down by allowing this British fool to host your award show. The guy was funny in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but as the host of the VMAs he was a loser.
What do you guys think? I am all for freedom of speech, but to have a foreigner come in here on our stage and make fun of us is unacceptable. The stage was set for the Y-Generation, and all of the important issues that we have to deal with on a daily basis were completely made fun of and degenerated. This is one step backward for MTV
I think that people should have the freedom to talk about what they want to talk about. So Russell is from another country. Who cares!?! Plus, I don’t think the MTV generation was severely affected by his remarks or actually took his comments to heart. It was just a fun time with a bunch of artists and celebrities. If Russell wants to stand up there and make fun a few celebrities for not having sex, I say we let him do it and laugh with him.
I’m glad that someone has stepped up and written about how irresponsible MTV has been for letting Russell Brand host their show and insult millions of Y-Gens across the nation. His stand was not funny, and at the same time, I was insulted with the things he was saying.
I have chosen not to have sex until I am married. I have to admit it is a very tough decision and hearing him make fun of the Jonas Brothers for doing something that they believe in is just hurtful to me. It’s as if he was saying those things to me.
Thank you Jun for writing this post and I hope that many people get to read and understand how I feel.
I have three observations–
1) My sister is on her second British husband. This clip is very indicative of the British sense of humor.
2) Comedians have been making fun of things that are difficult to talk about for centuries. That’s what they do.
3) Being a foreigner is completely irrelevant. The US affects every corner of the world. Saying it’s “our business” is what people say in an abusive relationship. We can’t fix things on our own. The more insular we are, the worse off we will be.
Kids may not know what is right or wrong, but they know what is not funny. He wasn’t funny, he was distracting. AND MTV didn’t really help by making the VMA’s suck ass, yet again.
Hey Jun - Lucky for me, I don’t watch TV so I didn’t get a chance to watch that hogwash. However, I agree that this does have significant influential power on the younger generation because television is the mainstream communication medium. I think as the Internet and related social software, web apps, YouTubes, Social Networks, etc. continue to evolve, so will the minds of our generation and the generation after.
By the way, video was taken off YouTube as you predicted =D
It seems Brazen Careerist can be a double-edged sword in a way. Their editing can mislead the reader, but at the same time they are driving traffic, and we both know controversy is critical on the Internet - especially in the blogosphere. I mean, shit, look at the headlines on CNN.com - they are the most misleading <10-word phrases on the Internet!
Now to your point about MTV, I actually disagree. I can see how Brand could have toned down his anti-virginity commentary as the host, but I in no way feel that MTV has a responsibility to G-rate its content for the “good of society”. MTV VMAs have a history of outrageous and crazy commentary and events - like Howard Stern flying onto the stage in buttless pants. I would be greatly disappointed if the show toned down its absurdities in favor of handling its audience with kid gloves. People are consuming MTV’s content BECAUSE it’s controversial, just like your Brazen Careerist blog post. Cut out the controversy, and all you have is another boring-as-hell awards show.
Further to your point about MTV having a social responsibility, I ask why you didn’t mention anything about its regular programming? Virtually every show on MTV is incredibly sexual, not to mention the music videos of our favorite rappers. Why are Russel Brand’s comments so drastically different? Do you really think his comments will influence America’s teens more than the rest of MTV’s content? Or, dare I mention, the Internet?
In talking about Gen Y and it’s consumption of media and digital content, we have to remember that Gen Y is defined by its ability to use the Internet to assimilate knowledge at a much earlier age and much more efficiently than any previous generation. By the time a kid reaches high school, parental filters are pretty much a thing of the past - we can assume that they all have access to everything the WWW has to offer. Including porn. Because Gen Y is exposed to so much more information/content at an earlier age, they are able to make more educated decisions at an earlier age. The relative influence of any single source of content is minimized.
**Video’s been taken off youtube