[thechat] re: Eminem & free speech

Erika Meyer emeyer at lclark.edu
Wed Jul 3 17:46:00 CDT 2002


Kevin Stevens wrote:
>Last time I saw Jello Biafra speak he mentioned Eminem. I can't remember if
>he was refering to children in his family or just being metaphorical but he
>said if your child comes home with an Eminem CD don't just say "You're not
>listening to that!", get the kid to really listen to the lyrics and to
>question whether what he has to say is really *cool* and try to point out
>that wife beating and homophobia are not to be taken lightly.

absolutely... the only reason I could listen to my hardcore punk as a
teen is because my parents didn't understand the lyrics...

btw, my daughter (age 6) *LOVES* the song "We've Got A Bigger Problem
Now" which is the version of "Califoria Uber Alles" on "In God We
Trust Inc."

She loves the slow to fast dynamics and always wants me to dance with
her.  She thinks the phrase "Blow it out your ass Ronald Reagan" is
something like "Let's dance in Portland, Oregon"   -- this disturbs
me slightly...  what happens when she actually begins to figure the
lyrics out?

Maybe I better go buy her the Pink CD instead (I draw the line at
Britney Spears, even though we have a mouse named after her...)

>maybe this was the right way to deal with
>deliberately outrageous things, don't rise to it.

Yeah.  When I was 14 I remember noticing that the more people got
worked up by punk rock shock lyrics/art/etc, more attractive it
became... it's all about shocking your elders...

BTW I just watched Rock n' Roll High School again last weekend.  I
love that movie.

Erika
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