Brain Dead

I went to the Weird Al concert this past weekend. I’ve never seen him perform before. While he is extremely entertaining, there was a part of the show where I had to stop and wonder.

Not wonder about what song he was making fun of, or why I had never gone to one of his shows before. I had to wonder about me.

When it was time to sing FAT (Michael Jackson’s BAD), Weird Al came out in a fat suit complete with a fat mask. If you’ve seen DODGEBALL, Weird Al’s face looked exactly like Ben Stiller at the end of the movie, when he’s eating chicken.

Since coming on to the music scene, Weird Al has always been a symbol of harmless fun. While I don’t follow his career closely, I’ve never seen or heard him say anything disparaging about anyone. I don’t even know what political party he sides with.

So, what’s the problem? Is it that Weird Al was in an outfit that was four times his body size, singing about fat people?

No.

The problem was that as soon as he came on stage, I thought OH SHIT.

Twenty, thirty years ago I would have been laughing my ass of at his theatrics. Instead, all I could think of was how many people he was going to piss off.

That’s when I realized I was brain dead.

Millennials, Gen Z, the woke, cancel culture, stupidity, whatever you want to call it, has obviously embedded itself in my brain. As much as I make fun of those groups, they have a tight grip on my head.

While I should be amazed at how skillful Weird Al is in a fat suit, I’m looking around the audience to see if anyone is shaking their head.

I felt like I had lost the battle.

The funny part is I didn’t feel bad for me. I felt bad for Weird Al.

While I hope to God I’m wrong, I know there will be many more who watch the song the way I did. No one is ever alone in their thinking. All I can do is hope no one says anything because that’s when the trouble starts.

Unfortunately, someone, somewhere will.

It’s a shame we can’t just enjoy comedy for what it is. Or anything for that matter. What pisses me off the most is that subconsciously I’ve allowed the stupidity to take control of my brain.

Has my independent thinking gone by the wayside?

Am I brain dead?