The Patriot Post® · Selling Self-Abasement as Empowerment

New York Times columnist Ben Sisario called it a “paean to female sexual desire.” The Daily Mail’s Cassie Carpenter labeled it a “critically-acclaimed sex-positive song.” The Guardian’s Dream McClinton insists it should be “celebrated not scolded.” All of them are referring to rapper Cardi B’s song “WAP,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. “WAP” stands for Wet A*s P**sy.

This writer has long contended that, with a large exception for Vietnam War veterans who served their country with valor and dignity — only to be labeled baby killers upon their return from that war — the Baby Boomer generation was the most self-absorbed generation in the nation’s history. Raised by the Greatest Generation who wished to insulate their children from the horrors they had faced during the Great Depression and WWII, Boomers became narcissistic enough to believe they had all the answers to America’s societal shortcomings, and thus proceeded to precipitate what is familiarly known as the “cultural revolution of the 1960s.”

There are far more detailed analyses of that revolution than can be provided here, but suffice it to say that nihilism, secularism, and moral relativity were the prime movers of a generation that embraced slogans such as “God is dead,” “turn on, tune in and drop out,” “do your own thing,” and “there is no right and wrong, only shades of gray.”

That last bit is key, as religious leaders and advisors were supplanted by therapists and lawyers, who respectively reduced “good and evil” to “well and unwell” and “legal or illegal.” In short, we evolved from a nation with a Judeo-Christian underpinning to one that makes it up as we go along.

As a result, freedom and license have become indistinguishable from each other.

Two successive generations of Boomer children and grandchildren doubled down on the narcissism, adding their own twists to this increasingly dysfunctional “new normal,” largely driven by the advance of technology. Thus, we have reached a stage where privacy is eschewed in favor of wholesale, unabashed exhibitionism, even as those same children require trigger warnings and safe spaces to preserve their self-esteem and psychological equilibrium.

Pop culture’s devolution has followed suit. The same Hollywood that produced classics celebrating America now turns out comic book pulp and endless sequels of same — when they’re not busy tailoring their content for communist Chinese censors. Television has largely abandoned sit-coms and drama in favor of fake “reality” shows that feature everything from survival tests and dysfunctional relationships to drag queens and transgenders, all replete with the progressive virtue-signaling political agenda that has now invaded every facet of American life.

Pop music has long had a reputation for exciting younger generations of Americans, often in direct proportion to how much it annoyed older generations. But for a long time, even the most “cutting edge” artists knew the difference between freedom and license, and if they didn’t, they still had to contend with record executives who did and/or network guidelines regarding what could be broadcast and what would be censored.

Cardi B’s song lyrics feature everything from expletives, explicit references to genitalia and sex, and the use of the word “nigga” to a general level of self-abasement, degradation, and rank pornography.

All of it is sold as racy and liberating. Even by those who ought to know better. “In my medical opinion, it’s normal — important even — for women to have a WAP,” asserts Dr. Daniel Grossman, an OB-GYN and public health researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. “Vaginal lubrication is common & orgasm experience depends on the individual. We should not shame women who have WAP.”

Dr. Jen Gunter, author of The Vagina Bible, agrees. “I see so many women who have been mansplained by their partner that they are too wet. It’s medically incorrect, infuriating, heartbreaking, and harmful,” she said. “Thank you @iamcardib and @theestallion for that vagina celebration! Wish I could hand out these #WAP prescriptions.”

Would that there were prescriptions engendering simple decency and decorum.

Tragically, we are long past that point. Shame has been virtually eliminated. And perhaps most damning, all ideas, no matter how deleterious, are presented as equally legitimate. Anyone who dares to suggest otherwise is either dismissed as “behind the times” or accused of being small-minded and/or bigoted.

The video of the song has also been enormously successful. According to The Daily Mail, “Cardi’s music video directed by Colin Tilley has also shattered YouTube records earning the biggest ever debut week for an all-female hip-hop collaboration, which has amassed 103M views as of Monday.”

YouTube is owned by Alphabet, which also owns Google, and the video streaming entity has had little problem censoring not only conservative voices it deems unworthy but also doctors who buck the media-established narrative regarding COVID-19.

Ironically, those removed from the site are taken off for violating “Community Guidelines” — which might leave one wondering what community is down with what guidelines. Nonetheless, YouTube apparently allows for the presentation of a video described by Los Angeles Times columnist Mikael Wood as a “savage, nasty sex-positive triumph,” even as he admits that WAP stands for something “so straightforwardly filthy that I can’t unfurl it here.”

For perspective’s sake, it’s worth remembering that those who champion such content are the same kind of people who championed “Piss Christ,” which consisted of placing a crucifix in a small jar of artist Andres Serrano’s urine, and Chris Ofili’s portrait of the Virgin Mary covered with elephant dung and surrounded by photos of butts as cutting edge art. In fact, the only thing that seems to upset the supporters of the video and the song is the appearance of Kylie Jenner, who is characterized as a white interloper invading the black women’s musical universe. A petition to remove the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star from the video has amassed 65,000 signatures.

Such selective indignation is indicative. We are a nation drowning in cultural sewage and hyper-sexualization every bit as decadent as Rome in its final days.

Perhaps that decadence explains why Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden allowed Cardi B to interview him. During that interview he insisted no one cared more about kids than he does.

Kids can easily access both the video and the lyric on the Internet, Joe. Moreover, there is no shortage of equally soul-wrecking garbage produced and promoted by our overwhelmingly leftist cultural elites who have made it clear that every facet of American society will be subjected to the same agenda.

What agenda? Catering to the lowest common denominator — whether Americans like it or not.