"I for one do not dance to dance music; disco for me is a lofty metaphysical mode that induces contemplation."

What a fucking dork.

"major contemporary composer"? not even a minor contemporary composer....a songwriter perhaps. To call Madonna a "composer" is to deplete the word of any shared meaning. Bach, Beethoven, Babbitt, Boulez - composers. Not Madonna.

Thank you CP for telling it straight. The video and the first single were boring and the CD is weak for a Madonna album. It seemed cringe-worthy that Madonna felt she had to get street cred into her video with "ethnic extras," that she couldn't think of a better way to boost the song. It showed how weak the whole concept was--and what was up with those stockings?

But Ms. Paglia--where was Beautiful Bend and USA/European Express on your hot disco list? Talk about contemplation and trance.......

Ahh, the land of Paglia. I'd almost forgotten the succulence of its well-crafted fantasies. Where just about everything is dionysian and ABBA induces deep contemplation. Yes, it is soothing to see that Camille is still humping Madonna's leg with open abandon (presumably not to a beat--then she'd actually to have to contemplate the act) while still trying to convince us that this trend-whoring celebrity is the essence of 21st century feminism (or better yet, postfeminism). Many of us feminists are pro-sex perverts (yes, think Dworkin and MacKinnon misplaced much of their feminist energy) and yet aren't vapid enough to hold up Madonna as a feminist icon. Get over it, Paglia.

Madonna has only ever been good at one thing: getting attention. Every effort is simply a means to that end. I'm glad I won't be around in 100 years when people look back at this time and see that Madonna and George W. Bush were two of our biggest cultural icons. Oh, and Michael Jackson.

I thought I was going to read an article about Madonna but instead I read an article about Camille Paglia, an author those favorite subject is always herself. For the sake of Salon, I hope she gets cracking on her fifth best seller right away.

Madonna has reached a huge milestone with her latest hit, why can't we be happy for her success? Why does Camille Paglia feel the need to try and tear her down? Agism? Jelousy? Madonna is a pop singer with lasting fame and success in a world where pop singers' fortunes melt faster than an ice sculpture in a volcano. Madonna clearly has something on the ball.

If you want to throw rocks at aging rock stars, the Rolling stones are even older and having less commercial success these days than Madonna. That said, they still have more musical talent in their little fingers than Camille Paglia could ever hope to match with her writing.

I see the voices of dissent are many, but I for one am glad that Camille Paglia is back. I hope Salon sees many more articles from her, and on a regualr basis. Camille is a lightening rod, invoking strong opinions both for and against her positions. I don't always agree with her, but her knowledge and wit are always refreshing. (And a word to the unnamed feminist in letter one: Camille was right, Dworkin lost - and thank God. I went to an ultra-feminist college and read every , EVERY book by Dworkin - I had to. Her philosophy of bitter repression and vindictiveness was required reading in practically every discipline, from Anthropology to Film Studies. We largely have Dworkin to thank for the toxic atmosphere of 1980s and early 1990s gender politics, which still infects the pages of Salon.) As for Madonna, she's not the greatest songwriter in the world, at least for me, though I do enjoy much of her music. What is most captivating about her is her determination and sheer creative energy. Madonna has been producing number one albums for over twenty years, and that's a pretty impressive feat whether you like her music or not. I understand the criticsms aimed at her latest album, but at the same time I think we might expect too much from her, and place an unrealistic burden on what she is expected to deliver. Being a huge fan of early David Bowie, I have to concede that though I think he is a far more serious and interesting artist than Madonna, she has been more consistent - turning out album after album with every one worth a good listen or two.

I believe I must be the unnamed feminist that ML refers to; I did not question the accuracy of finding Dworkin's vitriole off-putting and, as I said, misplaced energy (I called myself a feminist pro-sex pervert, after all). What I question is Paglia's tiring insistence that Madonna is "the future of feminism," an old claim to which she references in this article, and to which she upholds as somehow a proven truth we should now all recognize. That's bullshit, and lightning rod or not, Camille's wit and provocative writing cannot make up for her auto-pilot return to intellectualizing and politicizing Madonna's celebrity. It's lazy thinking.

That's one of the hardest hits Madonna has ever received! And to think Camille is actually one of her biggest fans!

I'm overjoyed that Paglia is back! I hope at least on a weekly basis.

As for Madonna, Paglia's been down on her for some time. Madonna's always been aspirational, pretentious, and ironic. That's always made her albums seem uneven on the first listen.

Her "American Life" single and video were way ahead of the curve and rather brave for a mainstream American star trying to move units. (Then she cowardly withdrew it in the face of criticism from the Karl Rove-driven media.) The CD had a fitful profundity, though not the usual calculated success we have come to expect from M. Mrs. Ritchie could take a page from Paglia's book and learn the virtues of writing lyrics draft by edited draft.

But as for Paglia, where has her productivity been squandered? On "B,B,B"?

Domesticity? Middle age repose? Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks. Or maybe Paglia should. Sometimes a rock actually hits a worthy target. I hope Paglia contributes lots of copy on a current basis, because we'll benefit from her pithy observations during this increasingly depressing American Life.