Grammy awards are here once again.Can’t remember when I last watched a Grammy debacle, er…show. Can’t remember if I ever watched an actual Grammy show, it has been that long.
Today’s NYT’s has articles covering the show. The photos are enough to put me off. I do remember have watched a portion of a broadcast some 20 years ago and finding it actually scary. Believe it was the time rap was coming on the music scene. The music has too much bass, lyrics unintelligible, performers acting and dressing in a misogynistic manner. Never tuned in again. The music world was too alien for me.
I see the protests in connection with all other award spectacles about not enough representation of women and blacks. And then here come the Grammys. Are there any white performers? Does anyone sing so they can be understood? Is music all over strutting like a rabid cat in heat? I really don’t want to see how well someone can shake their bootie or grab their penis. And frankly I find the outfits so over the top as to be pointless.
And Beyonce’s daughter gets a Grammy? WTF is up with that? It is as worthless as giving an Oscar to a child performer who appears in their first movie role; that is not acting. It also demeans the worth of the award, even though we know industry awards are mainly PR campaigns.
So back to issues of racism. I am familiar with discussions about black vs white discrimination. Simplified, if one is part of the group in charge you can’t experience discrimination. Yet I look at the show and I don’t see my tastes reflected, an argument used by minorities about not seeing themselves in various media. And I see it not only in the Grammys, but also sports.
So can we ever achieve equality? Can we ever have a culture where we all feel valued participants? I don’t know. I question what I see. I also know this alienation is often felt as people age, cultures evolve (or possibly devolve). Now let me go put on a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young record on the turntable (and yes the elderly back then found them appalling).
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