Problem: Pop Singer Ariana Grande Licks Donuts And Replaces Them In Shop, Then Says "I Hate America"

No, I have no idea who this is, either, but a google search indicates she sang a song which I guess was popular called "Problem," which is sufficiently pointless and indistinct from every other terrible song that it would naturally appeal to undiscriminating children. It's linked below.

But I get to throw that "Problem" in the headline like I'm au courrant enough to make a joke about this.

I don't really care that she said "I hate America;" as someone who has watched my country descend into a shithole, I've thought --and said-- the same thing. Sure, she has stupid reasons for saying it,, but I can't knock anyone for occasionally, or frequently, looking at this country and saying "What a piece of shit, what a bunch of dummies."

On the other hand, I can be a little bothered that she and her boyfriend licked donuts and then put them back so that unsuspecting strangers could unwittingly enjoy their saliva and undiagnosed STDs. Definitely a party foul.

I can also be annoyed by her I'm offended that YOU'RE offended self-justification:

"I am EXTREMELY proud to be an American and I've always made it clear that I love my county (sic)," Grande told FOX411 in a statement. "What I said in a private moment with my friend, who was buying the donuts, was taken out of context and I am sorry for not using more discretion with my choice of words."

The 22-year-old explained she was frustrated by "how freely we as Americans eat and consume things without giving any thought to the consequences that it has on our health." She admitted that she should have "known better in how [she] expressed [herself]," but seeing the doughnuts reminded her that the "United States has the highest child obesity rate in the world."

"We need to do more to educate ourselves and our children about the dangers of overeating and the poison that we put into our bodies," she added.

Oh. Of course, you were Doing God's Work when you did this thing.

This dummy was upset to see donuts on display in a, get this, donut shop. I'm not sure what she was expecting the shop's wares to be -- salads? Steamed vegetables with a side of wheatgrass juice?

Um, dummy, when you walk into a donut shop, you should probably steel yourself for the unsettling reality that there will be some donuts visible.

And that doesn't give you the right to lick them.

What is telling here is that she is filled with self-righteous narcissism (most forms of self-righteousness are just expressions of narcissism) and simultaneously with a lack of concern for other people, who might not want to eat a donut the Princess has licked with her nasty little tongue.

This is, of course, no coincidence; this is what makes these people terrible, the simultaneous exultation of the self as so perfect as to be morally obligated to offer nasty little put-downs for all other human beings' moral failings, and, of course, the directly-linked lack of any human empathy for those other human beings.

Someone on Twitter... says her BF dared her to lick the donut, and "like all kids," she did.

I guess this is a caution to me to follow my own rule and not overly Social Shame her just because she did a Minor Bad Thing I can rant about.

And I'll take that advice. I think it's correct. I don't think "licking a donut" is such a huge deal, to be honest -- a party foul, like I said, but yeah, people do stuff like this and we don't crucify them.

So I do think I went overboard here, and violated my own rule of Shaming someone just because it's Easy.

In fact, some of you might have noticed that my diagnosis here -- Narcissistic Self-Righteousness combined with a lack of empathy for another human being -- applied, in this moment, fully to myself, something I actually did notice myself as I was writing it, but then I did what people do when their conscience gives them a warning flag.

I said, "Shut up conscience, let me finish doing this thing I want to do."

I mean, I do not know this person -- I have heard the name five times before in my life, and had no idea even what she looked like. (When I was watching the vid, I was watching the wrong girl-- I was watching the brunette on the right.) I really shouldn't offer up such silly snap-diagnoses and scornful judgment based on five seconds of videotaped bad behavior.

So yeah, this is a something, but not a a huge thing, and I should blow it up into a Huge Thing just because I'm lazy and don't feel like writing about something more important.

Her music is still, of course, terrible.

My friend Steve says, sardonically: You know, pop music really peaked just as I was discovering sex and hitting my biological sexual prime. I wonder why that is.

But that sardony to one side: No seriously her music is terrible and she should be shamed for it.

posted by Ace at 05:04 PM

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