Welcome to Breakpoint, Daily Look and an Ever-Changing Culture through the Lens of Unchanging Truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

On Monday morning, news sites trumpeted that something historic had happened the night before

at an event that most people care little to nothing about.

German pop singer Kim Petrus, English singer Sam Smith, won a Grammy for the year's best pop duo

for their song Unholy. Now the win was called historic because Kim Petrus is a man who identifies

and appears as a woman, making him the first transgender Grammy winner.

While setting aside for a moment just how easy it is to be called historic these days,

after all the term used to refer to someone who actually made history,

Unholy is a song about, quote, liberating what the artist called Queer Joy.

It's not a song suitable for adults, let alone for kids. For example, despite the scandal that's

been swirling around Balenciaga ad campaign over the last few months, Smith and Petrus managed

to give the company a positive place in this truly unholy song. And the song still,

top two global billboard charts back in October. After winning the Grammy on Sunday, Smith and

Petrus then performed the song. Please do not look up a video of the performance, which in the

words of Variety magazine featured Satan, Cages, and Whips, along with flames. I repeat, do not look

it up. The whole thing made the long history of increasingly edgy MTV Video Music Awards

seemed quaint by comparison. At the same time, we shouldn't dismiss this performance,

along with Lady Gaga's meat dress, Ozzy Osborne's bat biting, or the many other loud but insignificant

pop culture incidents that were nothing more than shock value. As one person tweeted,

quote, I know we on the right probably use the word Satanic too often, but this performance from

Sam Smith is literally a tribute to Satan. End quote. And it was a more accurate thing to say,

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