The Tigers Have Spoken

The Tigers Have Spoken

This has nothing to do with a much hyped-operating system, nor I really shouldn't sully the title from Neko's damn fine live album, but Le Tigre, WTF? Why are you pushing money and talent down that celebutante cash-cow? I don't necessarily dislike PH nor do I spend an inordinate amount of time giving her the contextual space that rest of the country seems so set on doing (afterall, her main job is maintaining her name, everyone is doing a nice job of supporting that career). But Le Tigre? Sheesh. Sellouts. Aging Riot Grrls should be Rioting...

It was this same feeling today when I had a grandpa moment (of looking back 10-15 yrs ago with shameless nostalgia) and saying We really could use a Karen Finley right about now... Of course, we have all kinds of manifestions of shock and outrage, but nothing that has the moral punch as calling out oppression, racism and bigotry that's going on in this country. It's all MTV pimpin and people with the attention span of a gnat (thus the Jackass method of self-depreciation takes center stage to Abu Ghraib and the real frat-boy hijinks at Guantamano). What people don't realize, and perhaps Le Tigre with this current celebrity brain tumor they just developed, is that the shock value and morality do not have to be the tools of the right. Why aren't we out there making art to point people inward and say yeah, you know - going against human rights - that sh** ain't right... but alas, people are wrapped up in the outrage-decadence model (which any society teetering on the brink of collapse requires to fuel distrust, racism, bigotry, sexism and homophobia among the right...