Dan Collins on Our Courageous Artists

Until yesterday, I didn't know what a Nicki Minaj was. That's because I try to avoid pretentious, vulgar, grossly unmusical offal pretending to be "music." But when it's mixed with anti-Catholicism and performed on a world-wide venue, it's hard to ignore. Dan Collins's take is a must-read:

If you believe that even a single performer or presenter might have had the good sense and/or integrity to refuse to participate in the wake of this extravagant tantrum of unearned self-righteousness, you’d be silly. These are Important People, who had Important Grief to express, along with other Important Sentiments masquerading as Important Insights into the Human Condition, by which they mean the Super-Human Condition, which is the Reality That As Celebrities They Live. All in all, it was a pastiche of a parody of a burlesque of a burlesque, which is what Art is all about. And Art, as any of them with the vocabulary to do so will tell you, Elevates the Human Spirit.

Next year, these brave Speakers of Truth to Power will undoubtedly stage a mock stoning of a Muslim woman who’s been accused of sex out of wedlock by her rapist, or summarily burned because she might give inconvenient testimony regarding the rape by prison guards that has forced her to seek treatment for vaginal and anal bleeding.

Barring that, I’m sure that they will passionately denounce the rampant sexual abuse of youngsters by the righteous deal-makers in Hollywood, or the general sleaze of deal-makers within the recording industry—even as they seek to encourage government to greatly expand censorship powers over the Internet, in order to protect their profits. Censorship of any kind against them, however, would be an outrageous, unconstitutional violation of their God-given right to express their genius.

Much more, so read the rest. Dan finishes it off with a passing mention of Fr. Pfleger, the sight of whose name always makes the little hairs on my arms stand on end.

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