Larry The Cable Guy Quotes

What is morally off-limits in pop culture?

First, a disclaimer: This is not another thinkpiece about the guy that you’ve read about lately who’s in trouble for saying nasty things. This is about all artists—with a focus on music, though it could apply to any artistic or cultural discipline—that have ever gotten in trouble for saying (or doing) nasty things, or ever will get in trouble. Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper , Kiss, the Sex Pistols, Prince, Twisted Sister, WASP, Guns N’ Roses , N.W.A. , Public Enemy, Body Count, Nine Inch Nails , Marilyn Manson , Eminem, and, yes, Tyler The Creator—they (and many more) are all interchangeable segues in an ongoing cultural conversation that goes back years before their time, and will continue well after they’re gone. Don’t think of this as a late-comer to the Great Odd Future Debate Of ’11; let’s imagine that it’s the opening salvo for an argument about whatever pop-cultural scourge/savior is next on the horizon. (Perhaps a sexually provocative heavy-metal rapper from outer space who’s homophobic and a lapsed Catholic.) 

The never-ending conversation centers on this question: What is morally off-limits in pop culture? The answers shift all the time, but the topics tend to stay more or less the same. Sometimes they involve language: So-called “naughty” words have become more acceptable over time (though the really good ones still can’t be uttered on public airwaves unless it’s late at night or somebody totally fuc—I mean, screws up), but terms used to describe individuals of certain races, creeds, or sexual persuasions are now socially outlawed, which has only increased their transgressive power for our interchangeable segues. 

Other times trouble is stirred up by broaching taboo topics; homosexuality once was so forbidden that you couldn’t even say the word “gay” in mainstream movies and TV shows, while childhood sexuality remains a very touchy subject. (I didn’t mean touchy that way. Stop looking at me like that!) It’s often not so much about the topic itself as how the topic is addressed; for instance, a song about rape is fine and even noble if it is considered an instrument for emotional understanding and empathy, but a song that makes light of rape (or caters to rape fantasies) is considered “dangerous,” a designation with both bad (for most of society) and good (for many rock critics) connotations.

Larry the Cable Guy quote

"Even after the Super Bowl victory of the New Orleans Saints, I have noticed a large number of people implying with bad jokes that Cajuns aren't smart. I would like to state for the record that I disagree with that assessment. Anybody that would build a city 5 feet below sea level in a hurricane zone and fill it with Democrats that can't swim is a damn genius".

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