You gotta appreciate the irony brewing innocently over the airwaves:

In case you haven’t heard, that one really lame American Idol chick named Antonella Barba had pictures taken of herself in various states of titillation and undress and it’s been a minor controversy but she’s been allowed to stay because the pictures were taken in a personal setting, and not for profit– unlike the pictures of another contestant named Frenchie Davis, who was in another season of Idol.

(In other words, sluts are okay but whores need not apply, if you will?  Love the moral ambiguity all around here.)

However, some of the pictures she took were of herself having a one-slut wet t-shirt contest at…

…the World War II Memorial.

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If you’ve ever been to this particular monument, you may know that it is one of the most beautiful and solemn of tributes.  There are wreaths on pillars around a central fountain and… and… I have to tell you.  I am choking just looking at the beautiful pictures on the Memorial site.  The place is simply beautiful and humbling.  It is, in my opinion, a fitting tribute to sixteen million who served and the more than four hundred thousand who died.

It is a paean to sacrifice and to triumph over adversity. 

It is NOT a place to go cavorting and pretending that you’re hotter than you really are.  Does this stupid idiot have absolutely no idea of who she was really offending when she was being a total slut in a place that is deserving of her respect because it is a symbol of the freedom that allows her to show off her goodies to any asshole who wants to take a gander?

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So, shame on American Idol producers who have not in any way apologized for these extremely offensive pictures.  They may not be too risqué, and they may not be for profit, but surely it is obvious that cavorting in a sexually provocative manner (while being not that hot) over a fountain that was specifically crafted to honor people who were making the ultimate sacrifice overseas and for long periods of time, people who will carry the scars of that war forever in their hearts, bodies and souls, is really morally AND ethically repugnant.

Are we really that jaded as a society that we cannot see this?  And more importantly, is FOX so desperate for ratings that they feel like they can ignore these particular pictures altogether?

I fervently hope the answer to both of those rhetorical questions is a hearty NO.

05 Mar This entry was published on March 5, 2007 at 2:32 pm and is filed under Pop Culture. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.