The Hidden Hierarchy of Silences :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays Super Bowl

The Hidden Hierarchy of Silences On the night of February second, 2003, family members in thousands of U.S. households gathered together to participate in what is considered by many to be a great and important American tradition, the NFL Super Bowl. After kick-off, in most respects, everyone watched a game that had all the elements of a typical all American football game. Big muscled men threw a leather ball around, ran with it, and violently rammed into each other to the tune of a cheering audience. There were women on the sidelines wearing very tight, revealing clothing dancing for the crowd, and, after about two hours of all this, it was time for the traditional halftime performance of music and entertainment. It was during this performance where many argue that things began to shift slightly from the norm. For the second year, the performance was going to be produced by MTV, and perhaps in an effort to get more female and younger viewers tuned in, MTV advertised its performance of Justin Timberlake which promised "to shock". Timberlake ended the performance with a singing and dancing collaboration with Janet Jackson, and faithful to MTV's reputation, there was not a lot of singing, but plenty of over the clothing – crotch grabbing and groping of the singers themselves and each other. However, it was Justin's final movement after the words, "I'm gonna have you naked by the end of this song", where he ripped off part of Jackson's costume exposing her right breast, that triggered enraged viewers across the nation to cover their children's eyes, and call the FCC for justice. Although an account of these calls is not available for public scrutiny, their sentiments are probably of a similar range to what newspaper and magazine articles today are commenting on the recent incident in an NFL skit. Before the Monday Night Football game on November 15, Terrell Owens sees Desperate Housewives costar Nicollette Sheridan in the locker room wearing only a towel, and says in so many words that he will stay and have sex with her instead of going to the game. This event is now the most talked about obscenity broadcasting controversy since the Justin/Jackson event, and many are suspicious that it's no coincidence that the common denominator of suggested interracial sexual relations - is hiding deep within the public fury. Foucault, an expert on the societal obsessions with sex in the 18th century, takes note of what the different public discourses about sex can say about a society and their private views on sexual controversies.