So the Super Bowl came and went like a fat, sweaty, overbearing relative – and it left a stench in the bathroom that can only be described as the Black Eyed Peas.

Yes – once again we are suffocated by the American assumption that what is lapped up by teenage girls is also lapped up by everyone else over fourteen.

This scares the Bieber out of me.

Because it’s true. We are what we eat. And last night we ate a pile of crap.

Don’t get me wrong. The Peas aren’t that awful. Beneath the autotune, the plastic surgery, the nursery rhyme lyrics and the costumes designed for incontinent robots, there exists a modicum of talent that seems almost Barbie-esque. Fergie’s voice is captivating, in a “maybe I should hire her for my bachelor party” sort of way.

But here’s my problem: over the last twenty years we’ve mistaken spectacle for entertainment – that by adding more people, lights, sound effects, explosions and fog machines – we think this camouflages banality, when it only accentuates it.

The decline of civilization is only THAT MUCH louder.

Yeah, I know I sound like a stupid old man with an swollen prostate and a tiny lawn.

But believe me, it’s time to pull back, strip it down, and realize we don’t need all this putrid pomp – when in fact just a dude, with a guitar, and some decent songs can do better.

You know who I’m talking about…

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The left’s dominance over the media, entertainment and the classroom forms a triangular grip that seeks to denigrate and nullify intrinsic American values. Hollywood, in particular, shows an inability to embrace even a rudimentary understanding of opposing viewpoints, as celebrities who claim to be liberal and “open” continuously berate those who champion differing viewpoints.

Fortunately, the liberal seasoning that flavors Hollywood’s narcissistic lunacy has yet to permeate mainstream American society. While the ideologues that control Hollywood (not to mention the media and university classrooms) make it seem as though ultra-leftism trumped conservatism in a battle lost long ago, a surprising new poll shows that the plurality of Americans still see themselves as politically conservative. (more…)

This week’s Washington Times column:

Mario Lavandeira, the mean-spirited impresario behind the celebrity-obsessed mega-Web site PerezHilton.com, was left scratching his pink-tinged pompadour last week, wondering aloud in a campy cry-baby YouTube classic why, after being physically assaulted in public, he is now universally scorned and widely considered the villain of an incident that left him appropriately “black eyed.”

Aside from the basic rules of karma, here’s why: The calculus of political correctness is like roshambo, the “rock-paper-scissors” game. Different identity groups hold specific levels of power over others when their battles play out in the media. To wit: Black beats white. Gay beats white. Black beats gay.

Don’t ask why. It just is.

For those not paying attention to this tawdry tale, Mr. Lavandeira, aka Perez Hilton and the self-proclaimed “Queen of All Media,” referred to Will.I.Am, the black frontman of the platinum-selling Black Eyed Peas, by an anti-gay slur at an after-party of the MuchMusic Awards in Canada.

This interlude was born of the L.A.-based hip hop trio’s displeasure over critical comments about their recent album on the Perez Hilton Web site. The affair later culminated in the band’s black manager, Polo Molina, reportedly slugging Mr. Lavandeira after an evening of silly ego- skirmishes between the two parties. (more…)