Yet again, the tabloids, the usual suspects, here in particular TMZ and Radar Online, lash out at Madonna. This time, the attack seems to be coordinated. Leaving aside for a moment the right wing ideological agenda behind these attacks, these writers invent a story out of nothing. Anyone who has taken the time to watch one of the many videos of Madonna’s shows understands that she is not and cannot possibly be drunk on stage.

I would like to see anyone defying gravity in her dance routines when drunk… I bet they would fly off into the crowd of fans, even if they were sober.

But these so-called journalists, who are paid to research and write, seem to be so busy that they do not have the time to watch a clip online. Maybe they would need a dictionary, so they can look up the meaning of the word “performance”.

As to those who believe these papers, I feel sorry for them. If their concept of reality is what the tabloids say, and they confuse a performance with real life, I wonder what they thought when they watched Star Wars.

What annoys me, though, is that they fill the comments with sexist and ageist comments, but they too, the 'readers' fail to read some of the articles and certainly do not look at the evidence.

This attack is symptomatic of a huge problem with the mainstream media; the tabloids, being the most ‘transparent’ of all the media, act as a veil between the reality and what people perceive; they distort and fabricate stories for their agenda, and people who do not take the time to go to the source nor bother to check the evidence buy into this agenda.

Many of the comments are by fake avatars, of course, I would not put it past tabloids that have been implicated in some of the most shameful misinformation in recent history, yet some may be real.

This is the new level of opinion twisting. In the meantime, the real agenda is hidden from view. This creates a situation whereby our energies are wasted on correcting the facts of the attacks, rather than pointing out what the real reasons for the attacks are.

Now that the crime of being 57 is starting to look ridiculous, they have moved the battlefield to another invented crime: allegedly, Madonna had a whole minuscule sip from a cocktail on stage, enough to get a mosquito lightly tipsy. Hold on, though, aren’t these the very same papers that keep reminding us that she is no longer under age? I could not care less if it was water, orange juice or alcoholic; it was a small sip, and while men can drink and be machos, women over 18 (and this is the only age that matters) don’t.

If you don’t call this sexism, I wonder what it is.

What liberal, open minded people need to do now is stop playing on the defensive and look at the real agenda: the problem is not the sip from the cocktail; the problem is that Madonna has been fighting for Human Rights for more than 30 years. This is what the tabloids cannot swallow (pun intended). They are attacking her because she is an icon of freedom and equality, and one that just will not shut up. As to her ‘relevance’ which is often used, confusing relevance with its exact opposite, I would say that not only is she relevant, but necessary. Is it not relevant to show the ignorance of ageist and sexist people? Their very comments make her relevant.

Had she not brought the huge problem our society has with the age of women to the front covers of the magazines, would we be talking about it now? Just look back a couple of years, and the virtual absence of this word in the papers will give you the answer.

Yet again, Madonna sets the agenda against a form of discrimination that such comments prove has become acceptable. If this is not being relevant, please suggest what is, yet another break-up song?