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Provincialism makes my head hurt. Why does nudity still equate with obscenity to so many? Songstress Erykah Badu has been fined $500 for disrobing in Dallas for the music video accompanying her latest tune, Window Seat. Note that Ms. Badu was not charged when she filmed the sexless piece but rather once the video aired. Seems only then that a witnessing mother was reminded of how the public exhibition has scarred her two small children, whose eyes, apparently, she could not cover long enough to miss the site of the briefly-naked crooner. Isn’t it amazing how even the unraveling of a barely-repressed memory can trigger knee-jerk offense? Curious that less issue was taken with Ms. Badu’s climactic mimicry of JFK’s assassination. (She crumples to the ground feigning a fatal head wound in Dealey Plaza.) Strange that Texans don’t mind re-enacting that chapter of their historic infamy. Further proof that the Lone Star state is constantly evolving back and to the right.

Oh, and for those who actually watch and listen to Window Seat, the song’s denouement, Ms. Badu’s condemnation of hateful thought and group-think seems best aimed at the very folks who would condemn her for exposing her beautiful convictions along with her body.