# LAURYN HILL: "YOU GO GIRL!" or "THAT'S JUST TACKY!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344 "2003-12-16T17:25:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/1 "2003-12-16T17:25:58Z")
This may be more appropriate for Great Debates, but I’ll start it out in here. Do you think that her [Vatican](http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1481109/20031215/hill_lauryn.jhtml?headlines=true)[stunt](http://www.antimusic.com/news/03/dec/item36.shtml) this weekend was utterly tacky and classless (ala Sinead and Michael Moore) or something that needed to be said? Personally, I’m going with a little of both. ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/2 "2003-12-16T17:41:06Z")
Tacky. It’s not like she lacks for venues for personal expression. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/3 "2003-12-16T17:41:42Z")
Tacky and rude. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/4 "2003-12-16T17:48:39Z")
Tacky. And passe. A little originality, please. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/5 "2003-12-16T17:51:14Z")
Hm. Is Lauryn a woman’s woman? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/6 "2003-12-16T19:49:24Z")
Tacky. ---
**Author:** ![gaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@gaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaba)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/7 "2003-12-16T20:51:37Z")
There was a (surprisingly) good article in Rolling Stone a couple months back - focusing on how absolutely she lost it, after being one of the most promising acts in the genre. I mean, after Miseductation grabbed the grammy, she seemed such a self-aware, together, and politically-savvy chick. Apparently fame wore her down immensly, lots of “friends” proved to be no support, and if this weren’t enough, she started hanging around some kind of shady spiritual guru. eaw. Consequently, I think she lost sense of most reality. She recorded an “Unplugged” that would have been binned by anyone with ears, if she were anyone else. It’s a crying shame, but it happens - talents wasted. ---
**Author:** ![gaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@gaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaba)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/8 "2003-12-16T20:56:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Moody Bastard \* > \*\*Hm. Is Lauryn a woman’s woman? \*\* In what way? ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/9 "2003-12-16T20:58:47Z")
Very tacky–I’d say it’s more Sinead-style tacky though. I wonder if they’ll run a steamroller over her CDs too. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/10 "2003-12-16T21:15:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gaba \* > \*\*In what way? \*\* In the I’ve never seen her hair remotely that short way. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/11 "2003-12-16T21:21:28Z")
Tacky. Tacky. Tacky. There are a million appropriate places to go off on an Anti-RCC rant if that’s your thing. An invited appearance at the Vatican is not one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/12 "2003-12-16T22:27:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Moody Bastard \* > \*\*In the I’ve never seen her hair remotely that short way. \*\* So, a woman cuts her hair, and that makes her a lesbian? :rolleyes: What decade are you living in? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/13 "2003-12-16T23:17:00Z")
That hair is pretty damn short though. That’s a pretty “special” look. ---
**Author:** ![gaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@gaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaba)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/14 "2003-12-17T00:06:23Z")
Come ooon, geez louize. AS IF acting funny and talking out of your ass should be reserved exclusively for lesbians! I’m pretty much hetero and I should like to act inappropriately and talk nonsense whenever the hell I please. 😉 [and what is it with automatically dubbing an unfortunately outspoken broad a lesbian? Is it a defence mechanism of sorts? It’s so unbelievably common] ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/15 "2003-12-17T00:39:53Z")
**SmackFu** My hair was that short when I got married. It was even shorter when I met my husband. Length or style of hair has no bearing on a woman’s sexuality. I don’t mean to sound like being thought a lesbian an insult, being judged by one’s hairstyle is. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/16 "2003-12-17T01:02:41Z")
Oh I don’t know. After all this was the target audience for her comments. Doesn’t sound like she was particularily rude. And what’s with the “Holy SEA” in the second article? The cardinal was a merman? ---
**Author:** ![Spurious\_George](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Spurious\_George](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spurious_George)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/17 "2003-12-17T02:21:38Z")
You go, girl! Why does everyone always come down on people who take the chance to address a huge audience, or in this case, _the exact appropriate crowd with lots of influence on the issue at hand_? When you believe that something is ruining the lives of thousands of people, or steering the world toward the brink of destruction, why hold your tongue out of some misplaced sense of decorum? You get your chance to address an audience, maybe the biggest audience you’ll ever have the attention of, and you go for it. That’s not tacky, it’s making the most of an opportunity you might never get again, even if you burn all your bridges as you do it. Sinead, Mr. Moore, and Ms. Hill obviously all felt strongly enough about their chosen issues to speak about them even though they knew there might be backlash. If it’s even slightly likely that they change a few minds or push a few revelations on the issue, I’m sure they’re satisfied with the result. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/18 "2003-12-17T02:31:31Z")
It was _not_ an appropriate crowd. The crowd did not come that day to hear Lauryn Hill rant about the Church and sing a protest song. They came to hear a Christmas concert. If she’d done it at a protest rally across the street, it wouldn’t be tacky. Instead, she hijacked a totally unrelated event. It’s like the ACT-UP demonstrations at St. Patrick’s in the 80s. I thought that was tacky, too. If you want to draw people to your point of view, you don’t hijack their sacred institutions and you don’t use an invitation to sing as an opportunity to screed. These are the signs of incredible ego, self-centered thinking, and narcissistic tendencies. “Look at me! Look at me! Look how evolved I am!” Feh. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/19 "2003-12-17T04:44:58Z")
WHAT she said was spot on. WHERE she said it, was not. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344/20 "2003-12-17T04:48:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*WHERE she said it, was not. \*\* I understand your point, but otoh where better to address a problem with the Catholic church than in an audience with some of the most powerful men in the Church? I definitely think it was ill advised from several perspectives, but at the same time I have no sympathy for the Cardinals themselves. They don’t deserve to be comfortable and sheltered from the scandals they helped create (I’m referring to the cover-ups, not the abuse of children) even for a minute. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lauryn-hill-you-go-girl-or-thats-just-tacky/219344.md?page=2)