Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Had Class, Even Apart From Their Moves

     On September 12, 2016, a dramatic and perilous incident occurred during a taping of Dancing With the Stars.  Two men rushed the stage, heading for Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, a show contestant, and his dancing partner Cheryl Burke.  Ms. Burke, in a lovely pink dress, and Mr. Lochte, dressed in white with black lapels and tie, were menaced by the near approach of two men with foreign-sounding names.  The men, brought to the floor by security guards and muscled out of the venue, seemed to have been protesting Mr. Lochte's disgusting behavior in Rio de Janeiro during the recent Summer Olympics.
     According to CNN, a spokesperson for the popular TV show said, "Two individuals stormed the dance floor tonight and were immediately subdued and escorted out of the building."
     "...at least four other people yelled anti-Lochte chants."  The two men who "stormed" the stage "...were," according to an LAPD spokesperson, or, in the common tongue, cop, "arrested on trespassing, this was a private person's arrest as the security at the venue made the arrest.  We just accepted them and booked them."
     In Brazil on August 14, Lochte and three of his fellow shithead colleagues, vandalized a Rio de Janeiro gas station, directed their American piss at anything but the men's room toilet, and were detained by security guards later identified falsely by Lochte as fake cops.  He claimed the guards aimed guns at their heads; not true.
     Lochte returned to the United States in a private jet with his girlfriend, leaving his three shithead friends behind in Rio, having to talk to cops about what really happened.  The contrast between spending hours with cops, and sitting in a private jet next to one's girlfriend, a former Playboy playmate, is easy to picture: one situation is maddening, the other not that bad, especially if capped by a fuck.
     Private security guards on the set of Dancing With the Stars made a citizen's arrest.  Since the crime of trespassing involved a rich and famous (for being stupid) person, Los Angeles cops "just accepted" the perpetrators and "booked them."  Non-cops, as in Rio, made the initial arrest.  Lochte in his white suit got to see someone else get taken to the floor after not having actually threatened the swimmer physically, and also after not having urinated in public and committed vandalism.
     Lochte told the show's emcee, Tom Bergeron (host also of America's Funniest Videos, which could, without contradiction to its title, show this video of a protest against an Olympics medalist prick with the brain of a cantaloupe), "So many feelings are going through my head right now.  I'm a little hurt."
     After the show, he said, "You know, at that moment, I was really heartbroken.  My heart just sunk. It felt like somebody just ripped it apart."  He realized "he had to brush it off."
     Who ripped up his heart?  The protestors?  They wore t-shirts reading "Lochte," circled with a line drawn through.  The Anti-Lochtes, a new political movement, perhaps.
     I'm sure his brushing off of the event came easily to him.  He had no problem screwing his teammates, leaving them behind to fly home with his beautiful girlfriend.
     Cheryl Burke, his dancing partner, said of Lochte, using the hyperbole typical of this age, "'[I'm] completely shocked," but "beyond" proud of him.'"
     If you're shocked, you're shocked.  Saying "completely shocked" implies one can be nine-tenths shocked.  To be "beyond proud" could mean anything.  What's beyond pride in someone?  Shame?
     If this language comment on my part seems beside the point, bear in mind I just mention it because it's common these days for people, even the college-educated, to speak English as if they have no idea what most of the words mean.  Donald Trump talks like this.  Most of what he says into microphones is undifferentiated word garbage.  The culture, as it pertains to communications shaped by technology, has embraced, I guess because it's easy, ways of expression that would've been derided even thirty years ago.  Here's what show contestant Robert Van Winkle (the former Vanilla Ice, awakened from a twenty year sleep after great success in the music industry) said about the Lochte event on Monday:

     "He won the gold medal for this country, folks.  Get over the bull story, whatever.  It doesn't matter.  He's a hero and he's a great guy on top of that."

     "The bull story, whatever."  Get over it.  When a foreigner vandalizes your business and literally pisses on it, "it doesn't matter."  When that same person lies to the police about the incident, who cares?  He's a fucking hero!  He won a gold medal for America!  He should be able to lay waste to the rest of the Amazon rain forest if he wants to.  Committing crimes in other countries doesn't fucking matter!  On top of his reprehensible behavior, he's a great guy!
     Former Governor of Texas Rick Perry also competed on the show.  He was the first of the seventeen Republicans to drop out of the 2015-2016 presidential race.  Has he found a new calling?
     He enjoyed the experience, saying before the judges, "Presidential debate ain't even in the class.  Ah man, this is crazy good.  This is as good as it gets."
     Then, speaking truthfully on a show characterized typically by the imprecise language of this time, one of the judges said of Perry's performance, "Timing is very important when you dance."
     That's as good as Rick Perry got.  At least no one's calling him a hero, and he didn't piss on the stage.

                                                                             Vic Neptune