Objectification

Ok, now he was close

Tried to domesticate you

But you're an animal

Baby it's in your nature

- Robin Thicke, Blurred Lines

You can't treat an equal in a way that you wouldn't want to be treated yourself - it's a defense mechanism humans are hard-wired with that takes significant departures from the norm, like psychopathy, to deviate from.  

What we can do, though, is dehumanize those people we'd rather treat differently.  The most common way we do this is by deeming those we want to be inferior as animals.  Animals, we believe, are lesser creatures - they don't have awareness or purpose the way people do.  Women were objectified as "too emotional" and therefore undeserving of the vote.  Various minorities have been enslaved, raped and murdered under the justification that they "simply aren't human."  They don't think the way we do, therefore they aren't like us.  Therefore, they are not due the same rights and responsibilities we feel people like us should be entitled to.

It's why resistance to interrogation experts and hostage negotiators place humanization at the forefront of their toolboxes.  The same goes for politicians tweeting about their weekend with the kids - essentially, they're trying to say "I'm just like you."

Which is why I think this is so brilliant.  These ladies haven't bitched about unfair treatment; instead, they've demonstrated that they're able to go toe-to-toe with any misogynist on the block.  

Whereas a Miley Cyrus reinforces sexual stereotypes with her "you know me, I don't think things through" response, these Auckland law students are demonstrating they deserve respect.

Which, frankly, sex should be about.  

After all, if it's just about the act of procreation, we're really no better than animals.

UPDATE - "Warren, your Liberal is showing again.  There is no win for the US, us or any other western nation to get involved in Syria.  There is no "good guys" in this one.  They are all a bunch of animals and the more of them that they kill off the better the world will be.  Give em all the guns and amo they want and let them go at it.

Wonder if this person feels that armed individuals in our society serves as a deterrent, not an incentive, to crime?  Of course, we're not animals, are we?

Point, proven.

Alyssa Milano / Miley Cyrus Action!

They're over-thinking it,: Cyrus said.  "You're thinking about it more than I thought about it when I did it.  Like, I didn't even think about it 'cause that's just me."

Cyrus got her headlines, all right - most of them negative.  Maybe she sells a couple more albums out of this, maybe not, but by not thinking her actions through she has done nothing for her brand.  She hasn't made history - she's briefly scandalized a couple of folk who will have already moved on to the next shock-and-awe story - like, say, the terrible plight of Syrians.

Then, there's Alyssa Milano, who until now I recalled as the kid from Who's The Boss.

"Oh no!  I'm not sure how it got out.  My sex tape was leaked.  Not sure what to say.  Going to post the link myself to try to control the situation."

Milano created the situation, tapped into the same emotional triggers that Cyrus used and then redirected focus on a human catastrophe.  Well planned, well executed and I guarantee there are a ton of people, like me, who are going to look at her with a new perspective - one based on respect, not disappointment.

Cyrus, whatever - kids in their skivvies acting inappropriate are a dime a dozen.  A woman with a critical mission, a thorough understanding of how to use public appetite and social media to her advantage and the strategic sense to follow it through to perfection?  Now that's hot.

And while you're here, you know what's definitely not cool?

Tolerating this.

Borgore and Miley Cyrus Do an American Gangnam Style?

 

Decisions, but I want it all so I get it all

I wanna eat the whole cake

I'm not sharing, I'm not sharing

You should have learned how to bake.

 

What does a video that features Miley Cyrus french-kissing a unicorn have to do with a Korean pop sensation?  Apart from being a cult-pop meme that's gone viral and inspired countless imitations, Gangnam Style is also a landmark song in the cookie-cutter Korean music scene.  It's a subtle social commentary, something unusual in a country where musicians openly declare popularity and profit to be their goals, rather than artistry or commentary.

 

Intentionally or not, Borgore (featuring Miley Cyrus) is doing the same kind of thing - spoofing modern club-culture and the Ayn Randian mentality of greed being the prime motivator, fueled by an insatiable need for sensation and status.  The dubstep tune Decisions is nothing remarkable in its lyrics or staging, but there's something sad and surreal in the carnival-like extremity of its experience that reminds me of  Surviving Picasso, a biopic of the artist based on Arianna Huffington's bio Creator and Destroyer.  Do these folk realize the absurdity of their situation?  Are they in on their own joke?  It's Gangnam Style with American flavour. 

 

I look at other products of the time, including films like The Great Gatsby or Cosmopolis and see an emerging theme of millennial fatigue. partially brought on by the popularity of shows like Jersey Shore and cynical politics.  What does it say when social commentary has become a meme of its own, when adoration is blindness?  What does it mean when would-be presidents can disparage 47% of their would-be constituents and still stand a good chance of winning, or independent auteur film makers turned corporate moguls sell their own empires into larger monopolies?

 

We've all become a bit stretched thin, like butter scraped over too much bread.  Alas, it's a cycle we've seen before.