A halftime that won’t be forgotten–but why?

A halftime that won’t be forgotten–but why?

The Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake "incident" during halftime of the Super Bowl dominated American media for several days. It was also the leading topic of conversation just about everywhere.

It became a chicken and egg proposition: Were the media having a feeding frenzy or was the general public feeding the media? But the big question is, "Why?"

Maybe there are three distinct camps in America. Some are prudes who want a return to Victorian values. Others are heathens who want total permissiveness. And some are in the middle.

The whole thing was little more than a publicity stunt. Jackson is releasing a new CD. She probably thought the hype would help sell her music. The bump-and-grind display was already in bad taste before the incident. Some people in the entertainment industry claim that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. If so, Jackson scored a touchdown.

The FCC will investigate the matter. Somebody will probably pay a big fine and many Americans will be pleased because they’re already convinced that TV is far too graphic when it comes to sex and violence. Other Americans will probably whine about censorship. But this is one case where we agree with it.

A better punishment would find Jackson barred from the Grammys.