Check out the amazing list of repercussions from Janet’s faux pax: CNN.com – The Jackson stunt: What now? – Feb. 6, 2004

The thing is, people seem to be so focused on the breast itself. But it was the context that created the flap. (No pun intended. Really.) I mean, if the boob hadn’t prairie-dogged, was the context of the song, the lascivious nature of the dancing and the fetishy clothing enough to cause this outrage?

I guess what I’m getting at is this: was it really so awful? I think the thing that offends me about it isn’t the breast itself, it was the cynical, callow use of it in this context. And the foolishness of promoters and planners and NFL execs who think that cheerleaders flashing their inner thighs and come-hither looks, or the bombardment of sexual imagery in the commercials during games, or the chest-painted fans are any more “family-friendly and all-American” than Janet’s borg-like nipple.

And why is it that everybody is up in arms over this (something that happend after *my* kid was in bed and asleep, mind you), when all through the day Sunday you could’ve seen hundreds of people shot, murdered, raped or abused on hundreds of other TV broadcast movies and shows?

Boob tube indeed.