Ignore Lena Dunham’s “Girls” at your own peril, conservatives
Will we finally heed Andrew Breitbart’s warnings about the importance of taking pop culture seriously or just keep fiddling as the culture burns?
If conservatives are going to be in the popular culture – and act to change it – they can’t simply ignore shows like Girls that capture the zeitgeist, even if the zeitgeist makes their skin crawl. Season two is well under way, and conservatives need to participate in the discussion…
See, Andrew Breitbart didn’t expect someone else to do the hard, grassroots work of retaking our culture. There’s no army of conservatives out there who’s going to do it while you’re curled up watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show (starring an actor who shilled for Obamacare).
There’s you. You need to occasionally – not always, not all the time – acquaint yourself with pop culture sufficiently to participate in the discussion it sparks. Girls poses hard questions about young people, their aimlessness, their lack of morality, their crushing unhappiness – and conservatism has answers.
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Babylon 5 summarized it more succinctly.
Stoic Patriot on January 30, 2013 at 8:05 PM
Okay!
John the Libertarian on January 30, 2013 at 8:08 PM
I visit plenty of pop culture sites, some I’ve read have a majority liberal women base, and they hate that pigglet.
Marcus on January 30, 2013 at 8:08 PM
Looks like it is on HBO, never heard of it. I got HBO for free months after they forgot to turn me off after a promotion week. I finally called and told them to turn it off. Most sitcoms you can figure 20 minutes into it the weeks mystery couple is in bed. Rather predictable.
CW20 on January 30, 2013 at 8:14 PM
I wasn’t in any way surprised by Romney’s crash and burn.
I also know there’s nothing to be gained in a ‘cesspool’ or a brothel. This sort of garbage is a symptom of liberalism and a consequence free society. Talking about the long term consequences to someone who has no long term point of view is a waste of time.
sharrukin on January 30, 2013 at 8:15 PM
Great show.
As to the main point, commenting on some blog sites/engaging about Girls will do nothing. It’s been a steady progression of moral decay that’s not abating. The only way to change it is to take over the media/film industry itself. Unless Kurt has a few billion dollars he’s willing to lose, I suggest he come up with more cogent ideas.
IR-MN on January 30, 2013 at 8:16 PM
Leah Dunham is the biggest atrocity to come from Oberlin College. Outside of their football team’s 44-game losing streak this past decade, of course.
But her message of nihilism and fornication is still reaching the intended target of those same exact people – just under age 30, of course. Opposition to her on Socialist fronts is likely more demographic-based than principle-based.
Myron Falwell on January 30, 2013 at 8:17 PM
No thanks.
Neither my wife (who is a master of pop culture) nor my 20 year old daughter watch Girls so I don’t think I need to. Their current favorite shows are True Blood (yuk), Modern Family (ok), Catfishing (creepy), and Bad Girls Club.
I’ve seen some of Bad Girls Club and can attest that without a shadow of a doubt it represents the point of absolute zero on the scale of human goofiness.
Captain Kirock on January 30, 2013 at 8:21 PM
THIS.
I’d only equate a show like “Girls” to the factors that led to the downfall of the Roman Empire. And… that’s about it.
Besides… the last time anyone tried to expose and expel Socialists in the entertainment industry… eh, that didn’t end so well. So there really is no other option besides not watching the show or giving Mr. Dunham the time of day.
Myron Falwell on January 30, 2013 at 8:23 PM
Hmm, no. Why? When I worked in an office I had no problem discussing things with co-workers. You’d be surprised. Once people know you’re a Christian, they have expectations of your behavior and they’ll dismiss anything you have to say if you don’t try to live consistently with your beliefs. You earn their ear by treating them with kindness and integrity. You don’t earn their ear by jumping into the sewer with them.
INC on January 30, 2013 at 8:25 PM
To paraphrase Roger Ebert’s (yeah, I know) classic takedown of “Freddy Got Fingered”:
“The Bad Girls Club” may be at the bottom of the barrel.
But “Girls” doesn’t scrape the bottom of the barrel. “Girls” isn’t the bottom of the barrel. “Girls” isn’t below the bottom of the barrel. “Girls” doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels.
The day may come when “Girls” is seen as a milestone of neo-surrealism. The day may never come when it is seen as funny.
Myron Falwell on January 30, 2013 at 8:30 PM
I promise not to ignore it, but do I really have to watch it?
steebo77 on January 30, 2013 at 8:33 PM
There’s creepy, offensive, anti-family stuff at ABC Family, too.
Two actors.
And another one who just got a homosexual “marriage.”
itsnotaboutme on January 30, 2013 at 8:34 PM
I believe Keith Olbermann once referred to another Oberlin alumna as a “mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick.” Perhaps that would be fitting here; although, in Lena’s case, you’d probably want to make that “without lipstick.”
steebo77 on January 30, 2013 at 8:38 PM
who?
sauldalinsky on January 30, 2013 at 8:40 PM
Kind of aggravating that people can make so much money burning the structure of our society.
Count to 10 on January 30, 2013 at 8:46 PM
I take it that this is some sort of TV show for pre-pubes?
OldEnglish on January 30, 2013 at 9:04 PM
I don’t need to watch this filth to tell others that it has no redeeming value to it.
Red Cloud on January 30, 2013 at 9:05 PM
Well, surprise, surprise, surprise!
JimLennon on January 30, 2013 at 9:05 PM
Gol-ly! I hope Gomer Pyle had the goddam common courtesy to give the other guy a reach-around.
Now that image is burned into your brain, whether you like it or not. Shazam!
JimLennon on January 30, 2013 at 9:16 PM
I read Kurt’s piece and I don’t get it. We’re supposed to be wary of not taking a show about a bunch of urbane sluts in NYC seriously enough? because Conservatives will suffer if we don’t do what? Watch it?
Most people never even heard of this show. Breitbart was right that we should engage pop culture but I don’t follow Kurt’s logic here.
AYNBLAND on January 30, 2013 at 9:19 PM
Seven Percent Solution on January 30, 2013 at 9:35 PM
That is so freakin’ sexist. The proper term is “Enema”.
RushBaby on January 30, 2013 at 9:43 PM
So.. If the the popular kids embrace satanism, I should attend the occasional ‘black mass’ and animal sacrifice so I can discuss it with the American Idle set?
If the popular kids embrace suicide, I should cut myself, (just a little), so I can participate in the discussion of it?
LegendHasIt on January 30, 2013 at 9:53 PM
But…but they keep telling us that violent TV shows and movies aren’t part of the root cause of gun violence! Which is it? Do these shows have a hand in forming societal mores and values, or don’t they?
Mitoch55 on January 30, 2013 at 10:01 PM
I believe what he’s saying is what others have said, which is politics is downstream of culture. Pay attention to Girls, not because it’s even something worth watching, but because it has enough of our culture in a stranglehold of fascination; a generation that thinks it’s important because it addresses the human condition in some “profound” way.
Until we are able to grasp the notion that “as pop culture goes so goes all of culture, politics and life” then we will forever lose the argument.
It’s just too bad much of this thread is of the view: “No thankee! Doin’ just fine ignoring that crap!”
Stay irrelevant, my friends.
somewhatconcerned on January 30, 2013 at 10:13 PM
I actually am of the belief that we lost the culture war outright. By having failed to properly combat the Socialism that encroached on Hollywood, that slowly opened up the floodgates for pop culture to begin this never ending rot.
Girls is basically a byproduct of porn movies and ‘shock’ sitcoms like Sex In The City. (Come to think of it, Girls is Sex In The City on a bad, bad acid trip.) And what was the most ‘heralded’ sitcom to debut on TV this season? A prequel to Sex In The City… on conventional TV. Now, just how in the world is that prequel going to end WITHOUT doing something that’s tame by HBO standards, but shocking for network TV?
Now, let’s go in this direction. I like “Benny Hill.” His sketch show is hilarious and well-written, but I know that what has aired in the US was heavily edited compared to what originally aired on Thames TV. And still, the show was incredibly bawdy and had double-entendres throughout. It was a classic version of a burlesque put to TV. And it will outlast the sorry spate of so-called modern British “comics” like Russell Brand.
It’s what people like Leah fail to notice. She’s trying to push an agenda of nihilism and fornication disguised as a ‘comedy.’
But how do you adequately combat that without having the adverse effect of people tuning in to see it.(“Murphy Brown,” anyone? Or “The Simpsons?” Or any show that MTV has EVER aired?) And even if enough people did protest that her show got canceled, she would become a modern-day version of the Smothers Brothers, who became comic martyrs after CBS didn’t want their anti-Vietnam drumbeats airing every week… even as the show topped the ratings.
Girls is a terrible show, and it should be recognized for the ugliness is represents. But the methods we have tried in the past to combat similarly lurid shows haven’t worked, and they certainly won’t work here. Nor would I want Leah to benefit from any attention directed from protesters.
Myron Falwell on January 30, 2013 at 10:54 PM
As a postscript, Kurt’s piece almost came off to me as a lament that there is no one with the capabilities of Brietbart to lead a proper response to this show. I really do think that Andrew would have found a way to combat it through unconventional methods. Which is really what we need here.
I’m young enough (31) that I understand just how depraved many of my counterparts have become. Traditional methods of responding to this show WILL NOT WORK. If conservatives want to have ANY prayer whatsoever, they have to think differently at HOW to convey the timeless message of faith, charity, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the belief in yourself to this generation. Otherwise they will be low-info eternal Democrat voters for the rest of their lives.
Myron Falwell on January 30, 2013 at 11:08 PM