How Far Have We Come, Really?

Monday, the day after the Super Bowl and its halftime show(s), I sat down and began to read my local NextDoor feed.  What I saw surprised me, and it didn't.  I guess it surprised me less than it would've a decade ago.  And sometimes I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then.

A news source, I believe it was Axios, asked what readers thought of this year's Super Bowl halftime show, starring Bad Bunny.  Now, let it be said that Your Crusading Blogger did not see the Super Bowl, nor the halftime show(s).  Even if work hadn't gotten in the way, I have not watched a Super Bowl in many years.

Even though this city's beloved Steelers were not in the Big Game this year, many folks here viewed the game, and had opinions, ranging from "Wow, great show!" to "Meh, not my cup of tea," to "Why the hell can't he sing/speak English?" to "Not white enough."

Sigh.  Yes, really.  Are my readers surprised?

A few complained about Mexicans (Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican).  About the need to assimilate to the native tongue.  (Because Trump Executive Order #14224, "Designating English as the Official Language of the United States", doncha know?)

MAGAs love the "good old days."  So do I.  The good old days when songs that were not all in English were welcome on the Billboard Top 40.  And our radio stations' playlists.  On our radios, in our homes and cars --

La Bamba - Ritchie Valens/Los Lobos - 1958/1987 (Spanish)

Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) - Domenico Modugno - 1958 (Italian)

Malagueña - Connie Francis - 1960 (Spanish)

Sukiyaki - Kyo Sakamoto - 1963 (Japanese)

Dominique - The Singing Nun - 1963 (French)

99 Luftballons - Nena - 1983 (German)

Rock Me Amadeus - Falco - 1986 (German/English)

Macarena - Los del Rio -  1996 (Spanish/English)

Despacito - Luis Conan & Daddy Yankee - 2017 (Spanish)

I Like It - Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin - 2018 (Spanglish)

Now, I hear some folks had some problems with the "dirty dancing" in the halftime show (were y'all clutching your pearls in 1987 when the movie Dirty Dancing [starring the luscious Patrick Swayze] came out?  Or were you some of the ones that helped make that movie a massive hit?)

Well, twerking is nothing new, and if these two ladies had wing-wangs instead of va-jj's, they'd've been adding some thrusting to the mix:

 

And of course, our favorite Turning Point USA (TPUSA) gave (I guess) an alternative halftime show headlined by Kid Rock if Español and twerking gave one's stomach the heebie-jeebies.  This is the first time an alternative halftime show, mirroring the same exact format, with the same runtime, airing at the same exact time the official Super Bowl Halftime Show did.  And still so many people weren't happy, and were complaining relentlessly until a new news cycle took over a few days into the week.

Still, when the viewership numbers came out, I believe they told the tale:

NBC Official Halftime Show starring Bad Bunny:  128.2 million viewers.

TPUSA "All-American" Halftime Show starring Kid Rock:  6.1 concurrent viewers, and 25 million when accounting for social platforms and delayed views.

😀😃😄😆😅😂

"Well the stars might lie

but the numbers never do."

'Bye, y'all!