Kill the Messenger

Category: Rant
Inspiration: Recent article on the effect of negative music on teens

A recent study by the RAND corporation (click title above for link to article)suggests that teens who listen to libidinous music tend to be more sexist and sexual. This is yet another attempt to blame the media and its messages for individual actions. While I agree that degrading music is a revolting thing that should be avoided by sensible people, I feel that studies like these (and those about other media; especially video games since this is my personal favorite form) place entirely too much blame on the music. We don't need to be teaching our children to ignore this music outright, we need to teach them to confront degrading music and decide for themselves what is wrong with it morally and artistically.

I don't believe that negative media has the power to corrupt a mind that is willing to question it's message and form. As a twenty-something I still have strong memories of my parents methods; outright banning of any music or other media that they felt was negative. I understand that they did this with good intentions and a desire to protect me from the nastiness in the world, but they did me a disservice at the same time. As all teenagers do, I ignored my parents' wishes and sang along with the satanic, sexist, and violent music that was popular at the time. I can't say whether it affected me or not (though I am a pacifist and believer in the equalness of the sexes. oh yeah and I'm not a satanist either), but I do know that I passively engaged this music for a long time. It wasn't until I broadened my listening net that I realized what good music was and why. From then on I listened actively to the music that I encountered, criticizing and then filtering the crap from the art.

Parents are responsible for raising children with critical thinking skills. If we do this then our children can confront any negative media and win. Since we then don't have to ban negative media this has the added benefit of keeping the first amendment in tact. We need to stop trying to kill the messages and the messengers, and start raising more critical audiences.