Hip-hop group demeans women, incites violence
As you read my opinion consider the following:
“A woman is beaten every 15 seconds in this country. One million of them report to hospital emergency rooms. Over 4,000 die every year from the beatings or stabbings, or gunshot wounds.”
While I can’t blame any one factor for these statistics, I can ask why would anyone listen to music that encourages violent behavior toward women? If someone called your mother, sister or female friend a “d-suckin’-h,” how would you react? Would you take these comments as acceptable?
Why do we tolerate the obviously negative, demeaning and violent speech found in “gangsta” hip-hop music but get upset when Don Imus makes jokes using negative language he’s heard? Why is Alpha Epsilon Pi so willing to overlook the Three 6 Mafia’s atrocious lyrics to sponsor their concert on the IU campus? Why do we justify our listening to music that attacks the very core of what we all strive for – positive love and relationships? Women, where are you in this scenario? Is it “OK” for you and/or your friends to attend a concert where women will be demeaned?
In Spike Lee’s movie “School Daze,” the lead character Dap cries out to the college community to “Wake Up!” I think it is time for all of us to wake up to what is going on in music, film and other forms of so-called entertainment, and maybe, just maybe, reject all forms of music that encourage misogyny, self-hatred and violence. While some will continue to support the worst examples of “so-called” art in our culture, I believe that if many of us think about it and talk about it, we won’t want participate in supporting speech or lyrics that demean and hurt others.
Kevin Jones
Bloomington
