Everything Madonna says, writes, and does is designed to erode the conventional wisdom of western culture. People who treasure their minds and do not want themselves to be affected by this are immediately repulsed by Madonna. People who are sick of themselves, their lives, and the very fact that they exist welcome with glee any such attempts. This explains in part why the culture is so polarized by Madonna's influence.

To demonstrate how Madonna manages to both attract those who are unhappy with the world and at the same time repulse those who are satisfied with the status quo, look at the types of imagry she puts forth. Within the first ten minutes of "The Girlie Show", we the audience are bombarded with images reminiscent those seen in strip bars and whore houses. The lyrics to the song "Erotica" indicate a similar experience. There are also a multitude of other instances (you won't have to look far) in Madonna's music where sexual enslavement and S&M play are portrayed.

My next statement is going to offend a lot of people, and I wouldn't be saying it if I were still afraid of offending people like I was before I got interested in Madonna. The reason S&M is practiced is this: those who practice it are angry or frustrated with the world. They, rather than taking it out on co-workers or friends, have found that it works better for them to get their anger or feelings of domination vented when they are with their lovers. In "a perfect world" (which was also a great movie, BTW) there would be no need for S&M or any other kind of sexual bondage. As long as the world is "imperfect", some people will practice S&M, some will scream at their children, some will backstab their employees, and a few will become violent criminals. Which solution is best? Each person must decide for themselves.

Now, what about the people Madonna offends? What about the police in Toronto? These are the people who have adapted and learned to live with the world as it exists. They do not want it to change, even if it would be better in the long run for them. They are just like the people (I fail to recall the specific details) who used to want to kill the inventor of a new product because they feared losing their jobs. (I think it was for weaving cloth or something of that nature.) They are afraid that their position in the world will be threatened if this new "technology" is implemented. They do not realize that after a short displacement, a better life for all is immanent. They cannot imagine a world in which everyone is sexually free, able to express their deepest feelings without fear of scorn; as this fear is usually initiated and perpetuated starting at a very early age.

This brings us back to the S&M crowd. (Look out everybody!) The other reason (actually one of the many other reasons) people practice S&M is that it brings them back to their childhood. Now, before you S&M people start lecturing me about how the vast majority of you were NOT abused as children, hear me out. I proport, as Freud once did, that the vast majority of the entire population is abused from infancy on up. I agree that most people (S&Mers included) are not physically incested. However, it's virtually impossible to grow up in our society without going through emotional trauma. It's so common that most people don't even notice it. (For more on this concept, consult The Unabomber's Manifesto. And yes, I DO believe that he was also greatly traumatized as a child.)

Those who practice S&M like to bring back the feeling of innocence they felt as children. Unfortunately, innocent children in our world are hurt, and S&Mers unconsciously associate hurt with innocence. To use some famous words, they feel "like a virgin" again. It feels almost, as Quentin Tarantino put it in Reservoir Dogs, like it "hurts" so much that it feels like the first time again. But this "first time" happened long before the first fuck, it happened the first time the child realized the world was mean and evil. That was when the innocence began to fade.

Before a person can be "born again" (for the Christians who are reading this), he/she must first re-experience the pain inflicted by the world. This is the other reason Madonna repulses some. Seeing her and her message brings back this pain. When someone (physically) has become so cold as to become numb, the only way to bring them back to health is to slowly warm them. (Hey, another quote: "Oh your love thawed out / Yeah, your love thawed out / What was scared and cold") This warming will hurt, especially if the cold has penetrated deeply.

So, while the pain of having a society's consciousness eroded does hurt, it will not last forever. For eventually, warmth will come and beauty with it. (Yet another one I couldn't resist putting: "I know where beauty lives / I've seen it once, I know the warm she gives") Just as someone who is recieving treatment for hypothermia will go through stages of great agony, so does our culture. Likewise, we will eventually be much better off for having this treatment, even though it hurts in the short term.

In closing: Keep it up, Maddie! Also, I'd like you to take the example of someone you would put in a hard labor camp if you were president: Don't stop talking until every person in America agrees with you. For those who don't know, that's Rush Limbaugh.