iety would put a song with a message of murdering cops on the charts? If there is a widespread demand for any product, eventually, someone will produce that product. That product feeds back into the violence obsessed society that demanded it, and the result is a never-ending cycle of immoral beliefs that cheapen the value of human life. The product is going to be produced, regardless of new restrictions and in spite of censorship. If we, as a collective, decided to censor the music, there would be a regrouping period. When all of the dust had settled, the entire violent music scene would do business in an underground format. That would not solve the problem; it would not eliminate the influence of violent music on youth. Congress would have us believe that the way to eliminate music inflicted violence is to create bigger and better laws. In a recent Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Senator Orin Hatch stated that parents should be better informed about violent lyrical content, retail chains should openly display lyrics to all offensive material, and a national campaign should be developed to educate parents on the current rating system. Senator Hatch also spoke of further improving our current rating system by sub-rating more violent music with extra warning labels. In theory, Hatch was on to something when he spoke about increasing awareness of the current ratings system. In reality, parents, by large, aren’t paying attention to the current ratings system. If this is the case, a new ratings system would fail immediately. Therein, we have found that a new ratings system is pointless, censorship is unconstitutional, and the current government regulations aren’t working. How do we fix the problem? Parents must take the responsibility of raising their children. It is not the government’s duty, or job, to raise our children. The time is past due for parents to realize that children have to be monitored. Children are subje...
