Nicki Minaj and Daytime Television

I don't watch nearly as much TV as days gone by but today I caught a portion of Good Morning America and they were broadcasting a segment of their summer concert series, this one featuring Nicki Minaj.  

Image from: http://abcnews.go.com/

I can't say that I was shocked to see Minaj gyrating at 8 o'clock in the morning on a major network but I have to admit I was thrown off center. Something in me asked, "What's wrong with this picture?" I mean, she displayed cleavage on the precarious edge of full exposure. In fact, her loose-fitting halter top lead to a wardrobe malfunction which briefly exposed her nipple--for which ABC News apologizes, of course.



Image from: AP on http://abcnews.go.com/

In fairness, it just could have been the full light of early morning that made Minaj's 2-inch eyelashes look like caterpillars and her blonde "Harajuku Barbie wig" look like a morning-after need for salvation. After all, I've never been troubled by Minaj's displays on late-night awards shows. So, I recognize that there was something reaching deeper--to my core.

What was shocking was the large number of grade-school and junior-high school girls in the audience of the Central Park venue. I thought to myself, "when did the audience of this Lil Kim inspired artist become adolescent girls?!"  It's clear that targeting this audience is a strategy, Minaj: being referred to as a living "Barbie," calling her young fans "Barbies" and "Ken-Barbies." Is it possible that Mattel is a behind-the-scenes sponsor struggling to keep Barbie relevant through a hip-hop personification of the 52-year old toy? Burger King's public endorsement (one of Minaj's props was an oversized, child-like, inflatable thrown) signals that it's okay for adolescent boys to be members of team-Minaj.

Image from: http://www.google.com/imgres

Simply put, I felt let down by early-morning TV generally and Good Morning America specifically.  'The morning gatekeepers supporting outrageous attire and precocious dance moves to young girls as a model to follow—disappointing.

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Why is a circle 360 degrees rather than 100?

It’s thought that the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia (Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians) invented the 360-degree circle to describe their observations of the five visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) along with the sun and moon. They noticed that the sun’s annual trek across the sky took 360 days.

Image from: http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/images/degrees-360.gif,
modified by the author

Their calendar was divided into 12 months of 30 days each. This base-60 system was utilized further to divide the hour into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds. Base-10 societies, like the U.S., have adapted to this 4,400 year-old creation.

If we place issues that we examine at the center of the circle we have the opportunity to examine the issue from many different perspectives--increasing our ability to fully understand what we are seeing or experiencing. Greater understanding empowers us to improve our lives and the world that we live in.

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