Born this Way? No Way, José!

Lady Gaga, she makes her fans go "Gaga".

Her latest hit "Born this Way," hit so hard, that even "Weird Al" Yankovic couldn't pass up an opportunity to lampoon the song.

And lampoon it he did! "Perform this Way" exposes more than just ridicules. For a woman who prides herself on being different and expressing herself, how come she has to dress up as someone different every time she takes the stage? By her own admission, why does she have to get high on pot to cut a new song? Reality may bite, but ignoring it won't take away its sting.

Are we really entitled to think of ourselves as supper-stars, why? Is it because we are born super-stars?

Even Gaga has to admit, stardom is conferred on us. Shakespeare was half-right: "We are born --with the potential to be--great, we achieve greatness, yet we ultimately must have greatness thrust upon us. But it isn't something born static-innate in our system.

For one thing, we should not be celebrating who we are because we were "born this way".

Nothing is more infuriating and depressing than the "ethnic-rah-rah" which passes for confidence and self-esteem these days.

"I'm all that because I am black!" "I'm brown, and I'm proud!" "Kiss me, I'm Irish!" The nauseating self-promotion goes on and on.

Why should anyone be proud of something that they were born into, which they had nothing to do with initiating in the first place? I had no say in whether my parents were black, white, brown, yellow, or any other color of the rainbow. If we take pride in anything, it necessarily follows that it must be something that we had something to do with.

Besides, "Black" for one person may be "white" to another. "Scot (Scottish) is just another Gaelic term for "Irish." So, who, or what, is really black? Will the real Irishman really stand up? Others have glibly joked that anyone who has been oppressed or kicked around by the State in one way, shape, or form is Irish!

You cannot define yourself, let along celebrate yourself, when you do not know who you are, or when who you are changes with every person you meet.