mind you, but even of the Quaylc part.rnThe other VJ, the scruffy and annoyingrnSteve Isaacs, looked startled and abandonedrnthe subject of politics.rnBut it was too late. I had to knowrnhow this Republican had found herselfrnon America’s decadent and painfully liberal/rnGrcen/multiculturalist network—rnwhere, I should note, she’s done a swellrnjob and been the most energetic andrnzany of all MTV’s jockeys, without gratingrnon the nerves (lacerating the spinalrncord might be more apt) the way otherrnwould-be lovable MTV personalities likernPauly Shore do. I was pained to discoverrnshe won “Worst VJ” in RollingrnStone’s annual readers’ poll, but I takernthis to be simply another sign of the depravityrnof our times.rnI spoke briefly with Kennedy, and shernconfided that she: one, bears a tattoo ofrnan elephant; two, has a big crush on DanrnQuayle; three, possesses a treasured audiorntape of Quayle telling her she looksrngreat in purple (and that she “rocks”)rnfrom her days as a DJ in Oregon—wherernher dad, by the way, is a Democrat; four,rnhas never heard of National Review (Irndidn’t ask about Chronicles); and five,rnfears that most conservatives arc boringrnand fall into the rationalist trap of thinkingrn”right-wing means left-brain,” thernleft side of the brain supposedly beingrnthe logical hemisphere.rnThe next time I saw Kennedy on thernair, she was wearing a fetching costumernby Jean-Paul Gaultier (who has createdrnoutfits for Madonna), wielding a whip,rncounting to ten in German, enthusiasticallyrnintroducing a “Blocktoberfest” ofrnGuns n’ Roses videos (telling Axl Rosernthat if he’s out there watching, he’s arnpal), and ripping up a picture of SineadrnO’Connor while telling viewers to “fightrnthe real enemy” in a parody of Sinead’srnPope-shredding faux pas. The most excitingrnthing the other VJs do is ask us tornrecycle aluminum.rnClearly, Kennedy is a valuable asset inrnthe Ongoing Struggle no matter howrnzany she is. But alas, she is one oasis in arndesert of liberalism. Perhaps, though,rnthat’s the way the public wants it. MTVrnmay be produced by the liberal pseudointelligentsia,rnbut you’d better believernthey’re doing their darnedest to givernmainstream America what it wants, messianicrnrecycling ads and all. Indeed, atrnthe same time it’s imparting liberal politicalrnmessages, MTV is the very embodimentrnof planet-spanning postmodernrncapitalism, doing a wonderful andrnprofitable job of giving us mindless, politicallyrnapathetic consumers the entertainmentrnwe crave.rnThe leftism/capitalism paradox ofrnMTV is one that exists in rock music itself.rnRock and roll was the bete noire ofrn1950’s social conservatives, but it alsornrepresents exactly the kind of creative,rnlife-affirming, postmodern, and highlyrnprofitable energy that leftist social engineersrncan’t hope to control (or to replicaternthrough the National Endowmentrnfor the Arts). Rock’s individualistpopulistrnattitude is inherently nonleftistrneven when the songs themselves containrnleftist sentiments—though it’s more excitingrnwhen one stumbles across explicitlyrnconservative rock lyrics, such as JesusrnJones’ celebration of the collapse of communism,rn”Right Here, Right Now”—rncomplete with a nod to Francis Fukuyama:rn”Right here, right now/There’s nornother place I’d rather be / Right here,rnright now/ Watching the world wake uprnfrom history.”rnOther explicitly nonliberal pieces ofrnrock history include Oingo Boingo’s denunciationrnof soft-on-crimc liberalism,rn”Only a Lad”; Duran Duran’s antisocialistrnrevolution song, “New Moon onrnMonday” (that’s what they say it is,rnanyway—and as an early-80’s New Wavernband they definitely represented a unionrnof capitalist flash and pop culture freespiritednessrnthat would have been consideredrncontradictory by the hippies of arndecade earlier); dance band KLF’s referencesrnto libertarian science-fictionrnwriter Robert Anton Wilson; numerousrnsongs by Rush (who are Canadian AynrnRand fans); and the much-malignedrnGuns n’ Roses, who should get an awardrnfor being the first rock group to criticizernthe Maoist Shining Path of Peru (in theirrnsong “Civil War,” which quotes an eeriernproclamation of war from a Shining Pathrngeneral).rnNo less a rock star than Mick Jaggerrnpraised economist Friedrich Hayek andrnfree markets in what may have been arnself-written line of dialogue on SaturdayrnNight Live. Like many rock stars, he andrnthe Rolling Stones came to the UnitedrnStates in part to escape the excessiverntaxes of a moderately socialist England.rnWhat could be more in keeping withrnthe spirit of the American Revolutionrnthan that?rnBut even if a rocker is singing aboutrndeadly ozone holes and the joys of casualrnsex, every time a scruffy, long-haired kidrnstrikes it rich by entertaining the Americanrnpopulace, it has to be seen as somernsort of victory for the American dream.rnLike Hollywood movies, rock and roll isrnrecognized the world over as a distinctlyrnAmerican invention—defiant, fun, eternallyrnnew and youthful, like the youngrnRepublic itself.rnIt is no small thing for one nation tornput its indelible stamp on a mediumrnthat may influence all the other culturesrnof the Earth for centuries to come. It isrna benign and bloodless conquest, likernconvincing all the world to speak yourrnlanguage or adopt your philosophy. Inrnthe long run, that counts for more thanrnthe passing liberal fads and unrealisticrnvalues to which rockers pay lip service.rnConservatives, as proponents of Americanrnculture, should be thankful we havernrock and roll.rnAnd, of course, we have Kennedy.rnShe remains something of an enigma,rnthough. A paradox within a paradox,rnMTV’s most conservative VJ hosts thernnetwork’s strangest gig—the midnightrnprogressive rock show. Alternative Nation.rnWhen I see it now, I’ll regret thernquestions I didn’t ask. I didn’t reallyrnfind out how much of a social conservativernshe is. For instance, would she putrnprogressive rock video pioneer DavidrnBowie in jail for sodomy (committedrnwith Mick Jagger, according to Bowie’srnex-wife and the new Jagger biography)?rnDoes Kennedy think modern pop culturernis inherently liberal? Is she religious?rnAnd finally, if God exists and sees everythingrnand that includes MTV, does shernthink He enjoys it?rnTodd Seavey writes from New York City.rnFor Dancers Onlyrnby William H. PetersonrnRemembering SwingrnBittersweet feelings swept over me, arnchild of swing, during a recent walkrndown Manhattan’s Times Square afterrnan absence of several decades. At thernend of the walk (Broadway and 42ndrnStreet) two other feelings emerged:rnthere’s a permanence in things notwithstandingrnchange. And all of us are, inescapably,rncreatures of culture.rn46/CHRONICLESrnrnrn