Lil Wayne’s new album Tha Carter III has now gone double-platinum, selling two million copies in the first nine weeks of its release. It passed one million copies in the first week alone.

These are huge sales, especially in our day of digital music purchasing where people buy singles but not albums.

Speaking of singles, the success of Tha Carter II seems to be driven by the incredible demand for the first single off the album, “Lollipop.”

Music Choice reports that “Lollipop” is now its most popular music video - ever. Damon Williams, VP of Programming for Music Choice said, “Wayne has done an incredible job of consistently delivering what today’s hip-hop fans want. The milestone of realizing over 10 million views for a single video speaks to the power of Lil Wayne’s fan base. Lil Wayne is the best in the game.”

And there is crossover appeal in the song. It not only reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs, it also reached #1 on the “Hot 100″, and #2 on Billboard’s “Pop 100″.

Obviously, a lot of people are buying, listening, and enjoying.

Not bad for a 5 minute song about oral sex.

And when I say “song”, I am referring to the insanely-repetitive, crass, in-your-face musical pornography that comprises “Lollipop.” At this point, should I type in a few of the lyrics so you’ll believe me when I say they are awful? No, better keep the blog PG.

Where is Tipper Gore when you need her?

2008 doesn’t appear to be 1985 (Gore’s testimony before Congress with Frank Zappa). Cultural moral crusaders, from both the political left and right, are completely absent.

Does anyone besides me remember when “booty rap” musicians from 2 Live Crew were considered anti-social deviants, peddling lyrical porn? Sure, the controversy drove up sales of “As Nasty As They Wanna Be” (1989), but at least the music wasn’t automatically mainstreamed into the culture.

But now, something is different. Where once there was cultural agitation leading to thoughtful reflection, now there is nothing but silence. Maybe some of the protests of the past were ill conceived, but at least there was a protest.

No matter what your religious affiliation, would you really want your son to grow up to be the next Lil Wayne? Would you desire your daughter to aspire to be one of the women sexually objectified in these songs and videos?

I’d really like to know whether anyone agrees with me when I state what seems to be blatantly obvious - we have become desensitized to degradation and are apathetic to our moral duty to critique and challenge.

Has our pluralistic sophistication over ruled our prophetic indignation?

Porn culture is here to stay, singing, “Veni, vidi, vici” all the way to the bank.