Whatever Happened to Sincerity

Friends,

Last night, A Charlie Brown Christmas was on television and damn right I watched it. Yes, that's not exactly earthshattering, but something struck me. Charlie Brown has this rant against the commericialism of Christmas, and that he doesn't like it, because Christmas, by god, isn't about stuff, it's about Jesus. Fuckin' A, Chuck, as Peppermint Patty would say. The whole damn show is about that idea of what Christmas is about, and how the material junk doesn't matter so much. But, the whole time Charlie is ranting, there is the little ABC icon in the lower right hand corner, clearly branding and commericializing it. Also, there were commercial breaks in the show...and are airing it nearly a full month in advance of Christmas to capitalize on the Christmas shopping frenzy.

And I don't know how I feel about it. It's not like ABC is airing this for the message, they are airing it because people with buying power get weak-kneed over it and remember their childhood. In fact, I'm willing to bet if you ask any random Joe on the street about this show, they'll say they love it, but not know about it's anti-stuff message (they'll know that song though, without a doubt). It's clearly a bankable commodity, so why wouldn't ABC take advantange of it...but would it hurt them to just, you know, not have commericials...just to maybe feint that they give a rat's ass about what the message of the show?

So it made me wonder for a second about sincerity. When did sincerity become something mockable or that people could give two shits about? Like, take the below videos.

Do They Know It's Christmas:


We Are the World:



Look at their faces. They mean all of those words...way more than you ever thought possible. Like when Boy George wonders if they know it's Christmas...that man is concerned. When Bruce Springsteen, bless him, says we are the world...he couldn't believe anything more fully. But did you laugh? See what I mean? What was the turning point where stuff like that became goofy? Like when that came out, did you think that was funny? I didn't. I loved the hell out of We Are the World (I was a Michael Jackson fan), but now, I about peed myself with Bruce Springsteen started singing...and wondering how Stevie Wonder keeps his mustache straight...and thinking about why Michael Jackson decided his bedazzled generalismo outfit was best for an African benefit...Bono with his wiggly shoulders in the Christmas video...Cyndi Lauper being Cyndi Lauper...and Bob Dylan, lord, Bob Dylan -- fitting in like mayonaise on a peanut butter sandwich... All of it was hilarious...or maybe it's just me.

Come to think of it, there aren't any songs of this ilk, the power ballad, that I don't roll my eyes to and find hilarious. Even the "message" songs/videos in general are funny to me. Like this Fallout Boy video below just cracks me up (though in my defense the song about fucking or something...it is called, and I'm not kidding "I'm Like a Lawyer With All the Ways I'm Trying to Get You Off"...but it apparently has something to do with problems in Africa):




Jesus...what happened to me?

VIVA EL MUSTACHE!