I feel like Cher this week.
No, I don’t want to randomly burst into song or dance — although my fantastic vocals and moves would’ve perfectly complemented the Opinion section’s “Ops Trio” music videos on lsureveille.com.
Instead, I’m channeling the 64-year-old diva for the other reason she’s notorious: a seemingly endless “Never Can Say Goodbye” farewell tour that lasted from 2002 to 2005.
The show lived up to its name, but Cher eventually seemed to retreat from the Hollywood scene — until a couple of weeks ago, when she and Christina Aguilera went “Burlesque.”
To understand how all this nonsense relates to me, let’s flash back to a week ago. Remember when I said Tuesday’s column was my “final review?”
I lied. My real farewell column is this week — sorry for the false alarm.
Of course, I have reason to believe some readers couldn’t care less about how many comebacks I made. In the short-term scheme of things, it’s more important to keep up with college coursework and exams, rather than the pop culture musings of a constant “hater.”
It’s also easy to ignore or make ad hominem attacks against people we don’t agree with, and in a newspaper’s editorial section, such disagreements are guaranteed. Opinion columnists in any beat, from politics to pop culture, are meant to be contrarian. Don’t take it personally.
However, many of you actually understood the statements I’ve tried to make. My tone often seemed derisive, but only because I want us to challenge the manufactured notions of talent and reality we’re spoon-fed by mass media. It’s part of a concept called media literacy, of which I’m a huge proponent.
We’re entitled to whatever guilty pleasure suits us, but we shouldn’t replace real-world responsibilities with leisurely pursuits.
When we juxtapose the absolute mania surrounding new entertainment with America’s widespread political and societal apathy, it fulfills author Neil Postman’s prophecy: We really are “Amusing Ourselves to Death.”
So in a way, I’ve been holding my own weekly “rally to restore sanity” through these columns, with a unifying theme: Pop Goes the Culture.
Your preferences may not have matched my personal tastes this semester. Regardless, I hope these articles have helped establish how pop culture reflects our society’s values back to us. As such, our entertainment is worth questioning regularly.
Throughout the centuries, as ancient empires declined, community elders lamented the virtues lost between generations. Our parents still carry on this tradition, and they may have a point.
If everything in the modern age, including morality, is relative and fleeting, we as a civilization must ask: What should be our priorities?
My last words might be a helpful, if small, starting place: Get your nose out of this newspaper and study for finals.
Kelly Hotard is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from Picayune, Miss. Follow her on Twitter @TDR_Khotard.
 
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Contact Kelly Hotard at [email protected]