The Cagen Effect on National Discourse: A Cappella Edition

An alert reader (yes I have readers!) alerted me recently to this piece on a cappella in a major newspaper of record.

When I saw that, I wanted to puke my bib, but my mouth was full of raki and ezme salata, so I held back and crapped my underoos instead. (They were my favorite FotL Spidey Classics, too!) Ouch!

Upon reading that, it became clear to me that the Times is TOTALLY in the tank for A Cappella! They didn't even TRY to interview someone for the other side of the story.

Let me tell you, I spent almost a year sharing an office with an adult (subject to verification -- but she did apparently hold a B.A.) who actively participated in A Cappella. I nearly did not survive that job!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, hearing someone planning meetings with her A Cappella group all day long is enough to make one puke up kabob all over his keyboard. Which, believe me, I would have done had it not been for my Kwame Brown screensaver, which made me cry instead.

What I'm trying to say is, there are real world consequences for A Cappella which Mr. Rapkin doesn't delve into. Nay, he prefers, instead, to treat with sympathy the puerile purveyors of this putrid art.

What next?

"I used to feel ashamed of being that consciously rich, privileged kid at school, but then, when -- a couple of years back -- I met up with a bunch of my friends, who were all still rich and privileged and enjoying it, I felt, why be ashamed?

"While, in popular culture, humorless rich people from elite colleges are often shorthand for pompous assholes (see the Rodney Dangerfield star vehicle, Back to School), many alumni are growing more and more comfortable with outwardly expressing their privilege after a few years of remove from their college experience."

Let's face it, would A Cappella have existed were it not for elite schools that banned fraternities? Basically, the evil deed came along in answer to the question, "How are we going to get laid without exclusive, selective organizations designed to showcase our money and to throw killer parties?" (Unrelated observation: 3 Lexuses parked in the lot of the fraternity next door...)

G_d, who knows how these kids decided upon A Cappella as the solution.



Nonetheless, Rapkin's piece is clearly another indication of the triumph of Cagenism in our public sphere: Rather than allowing that kids do stupid things at college, but that, at some point, you have to suck it up and move on... we now encourage children of privilege to build careers out of quirkiness and self-indulgence, drawing upon the best of the greenhouse living of undergraduate education, while the humiliation and sordidness remains hidden under the soil.

Oops. I just barfed.