Pop Culture Values: What's Wrong Here?

Last night I, like many people, watched the Super Bowl halftime show. I noticed in the middle of the performance however that the screen blurred out and seemed to glitch a second. I was confused as to what happened, so I rewinded my DVR and saw the following image:

OH MY GOODNESS, M.I.A is flipping me off! For a second I thought it might be another Super Bowl XVIII incident, and her crotch was on display for the world to see. But Judging by the other 8 girls I can see on stage (including Madonna), a crotch is A-OK to show half the stadium. I actually find it a little odd that only Nicki Minaj, of Big Sean’s single “Dance (Ass)” fame, is not spreading her legs. But I digress; the point here is why is the middle finger a big deal, but simulated sex is not? A symbolic gesture meaning ‘F You’ (not now, Cee Lo) is somehow worth being censored, but 8 girls laying on their backs, thrusting their pelvises upward is a planned part of the show? Our popular culture has clearly decided this for us, as I did not have the option to blur my own television. It is starting to show a change of values in America and it is 100% driven by popular culture and the media.

The progression interests me. 20 years ago, a PG-13 movie could show bare boob in it, and there could be violence, but no blood. Recently it has been the opposite, where sex automatically becomes censored or turns a film or television show into a mature rating, but violence or rough language is more acceptable. This stunt shows that values are changing again, now leaning more against foul language even symbolically but glorifying sex (but still no bare boobs in PG-13, sorry teens those days are over). This could be a notch in a trend of pop culture values change over time as the media decides what is popular, right, and wrong.

Or it could just be some guy from NBC with an itchy trigger finger that saw the finger, feared for his life and hit the ‘blur’ button like his job depended on it and as a result everyone with DVR rewinded and saw something they would have otherwise missed and it will have no significance in the future. But heck, the news sure does like talking about it today!