The mainstream narrative is that Sinead O’Connor ripped up a photo of the pope on “Saturday Night Live” and derailed her life. What if the opposite were true?

I don't remember what it was, so I can't say too much about it, but I watched some sort of short-form documentary about her, and this sort of pointed a deeper light on a couple of things I'd known already. She pulled the Pope thing when I was 2, but it was interesting seeing her story from the perspective of a vastly changed society, after growing up seeing her used as the epitome of "crazy popstar."

In a big way, she seemed to be ahead of her time, particularly with the things she was protesting against, like child abuse from the Catholic Church and the national anthem thing, both of which were definitely head turners in the US in the early 90s, and somewhat less controversial today. In a way, she gets something of a second life as a pioneer when she finally says her piece about it. I also don't doubt the pressures of being a pop icon eventually had something to do with it, but it creates a situation where any minor controversy by these high-profile individuals becomes a justification to destroy them.

This kind of gets to the heart of why I hate mass-produced pop music as a cultural artifact. It has created a divide between the artificial persona who is supposed to be the one creating the music and hides away the many people involved, including the real identity of the performer. That puts a lot of stress on that performer, sometimes to the point where it becomes abusive. The Brittney Spheres reference was a pretty good example.

Music does not have to be an act in order to enjoy it. Costumes and sexy performers aren’t needed to enjoy a medium that is mostly enjoyed without visuals. And if we really insist on keeping the act up, we as a society should be responsible for actually seeing it as an act. We shouldn’t be fooled by what is essentially marketing. It’s a shame how often we have heard stories of performers in obvious pain and we collectively think that they’re crazy or worse - that they’re getting what they deserve for “being such a slut.” And do I even need to point out how much more this affects women than men?