The 2022 Superbowl half-time show will reach a new low in American pop culture: all performers will be renown rap ‘artists.’ The NFL caved to the Left a long time ago, so why should we be surprised at this development? This situation is so sad, as 7, 8, and 9 year-olds across America and around the world will be watching.
Can there be any doubt that rap has a pronounced ill effect on children who listen to it? Consider the finding published in Pediatrics from the from the American Academy of Pediatrics:
“Music plays an important role in the socialization of children and adolescents. Popular music is present almost everywhere, and it is easily available through the radio, various recordings, the Internet, and new technologies, allowing adolescents to hear it in diverse settings and situations, alone or shared with friends.”
Unmistakable Effects
“The effect that popular music has on children’s and adolescents’ behavior and emotions is of paramount concern. Lyrics have become more explicit in their references to drugs, sex, and violence over the years, particularly in certain genres. A teenager’s preference for certain types of music could be correlated or associated with certain behaviors.
“As with popular music, the perception and the effect of music-video messages are important, because research has reported that exposure to violence, sexual messages, sexual stereotypes, and use of substances of abuse in music videos might produce significant changes in behaviors and attitudes of young viewers.”
“Pediatricians and parents should be aware of this information. Furthermore, with the evidence portrayed in these studies, it is essential for pediatricians and parents to take a stand regarding music lyrics.”
Consider your own high school days. Can you even imagine listening to lyrics laced with profanity, or that glorify misogyny or violence? What level of viciousness would be necessary to write and record such products?
A Propensity for Violence?
According to a 2003 study, “African American girls who spend more time watching rap videos than their peers are more likely to hit a teacher, have more than one sex partner, pick up an STD or be arrested.”
Dr. Edward W. Hook, of the University of Alabama in Birmingham, who conducted the study, cautions that it is incorrect to assume that listening to rap ‘music’ in and of itself prompted this behavior. The media, in general, exerts a strong influence over these girls. But you have to wonder.
It’s possible that the girls who were more violent to begin with tended to watch more videos. Still, he remarks, “It’s a reasonable inference to say that these things build on one another in a sort of spiral, circular fashion.”
The message for parents across America: it is rational to believe that listening to rap ‘music’ will increase a youngster’s propensity to engage in violence or perhaps only desensitize him to the effects of violence. As a nation, can we afford to let an industry that does this to our children continue to flourish? As parents, can we do this to our children? What kind of society have we become?
Robbed of Memories
Beyond being crude, vulgar, and non-melodious, rap doesn’t help engender memories. Think back to when you were in grade school, high school, or college. The tunes you listened to served as memory hooks – emotional markers that highlighted the times of your life.
You likely can recall a favorite song if not several from your school years, recite the verses, and reassemble distant, pleasant memories. Most people can associate songs with a boyfriend or girlfriend from decades ago. They can remember what they were doing at the time a song was popular. Tuneful, melodic songs can evoke powerful memories indeed.
What will today’s kids have to recall, musically, as they proceed through the long decades ahead? Clever, lowbred lines from DaBaby, Polo G, or Lil Uzi Vert? Will anybody hum those tunes? Will they play at anyone’s wedding?
Bereft and Barren
Will two friends who meet in 30 or 40 years, hence, reminisce over a rap ‘song’? Are the clamorous, pounding, obnoxious verses likely to invoke memories to carry to the end of one’s days?
Rap ‘music’ is rendering another generation of listeners bereft of the types of melodic memories that enhanced the lives of their parents and grandparents.
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