Heather Woodward

I just wanted to throw in my two cents about this subject... and I will admit it is not about Eminem because I have never listened to his music....

Has anyone ever heard that saying that "what you read is who you will be in 5 years" - I take this to mean that whatever you surround yourself with and enage your mind in is likely what you will become. This may not be a true blanket statement. But my overall feeling of the issue, be it violence, music with "pornographic" lyrics, pornographic literature... etc is that the time you spend engaging your mind in, really does effect your thinking. We can see this with other forms of literature. The argument for reading Classics is that they don't dumb down the language for kids. That they help the mind develop by hearing more difficult vocabulary than is heard everyday...and in this way helps the mind to be stretched -

If this can be said of quality literature, entertainment etc. than what is the opposite effect of things that do not help us to become "better people". If our minds are continually engaged in activities in which violence and offensive lyrics are the norm - then what will we become. Do we not become numb to the effects of it. Think about just the news,- how many times do we hear about a killing and are shocked? It's not shocking anymore.

I don't feel these art forms are "quality". I know there are many here that do - and I am not trying to put down your choice of music, or literature - I know there are those that feel they all have value. I however, have trouble finding the value in "entertainment" that promotes hurting others.

What does this have to do with unschooling? Well, for me if unschooling is "living life" and part of life is listening to nasty lyrics - and I am engaging my mind - or watching my children engage their minds in this type of entertainment - that is what I am being educated in - that is what they are learning. No they may not run out and rape the 12 year old down the road - but they are becoming numb to how horrible it is when it happens. I can not possibly see how this can have value. Some have said that artists such as Eminem are unearthing their hurts in their music. That's fine - but WHY do we all run out and buy it! ( I speak of WE as a society in general) Why does this stuff bring in billions - Why do our children relate to this in some way? If there was not a market for this type of entertainment, it wouldn't exist. Which to me shows where society is going. To me it looks pretty scary...


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In a message dated 8/26/02 9:47:57 PM, bacwoodz@... writes:

<< Has anyone ever heard that saying that "what you read is who you will be
in 5 years" - >>

I never have.

But I have heard you become like the people you hang around with.
And I want my kids to become open minded and calm and accepting of
difference, so I don't make them walk in a narrow channel with blinders,
because then they would become like that too.

I know the lyrics and all the harmonies to just about every doo-wop and surf
song that was ever on the radio, but I never wanted my boyfriend to beat
anyone else up, nor do I want to have tough-guy boyfriend who drive GTOs and
motorcycles, nor do I want to just have a boyfriend and get married. Nor,
when I was young, did I ever become that airheaded, violent character of that
style of music.

Opera is often about betrayal and death. I've never heard even fictional
accounts of opera fans wanting to engage in murder because of something they
listened to over and over and over.

<<Think about just the news,- how many times do we hear about a killing and
are shocked? It's not shocking anymore. >>

That would happen over anyone's lifetime, with or without news. In my
parents' day it was farm accidents and fevers that took out their friends,
neighbors and family members. They learned as they got older that death was
more and more a part of life, but it was THEIR perspective that changed, not
the world around them.

<<I don't feel these art forms are "quality". >>

I never said it was quality (although I see the level of difficulty in it
being done well), but I said it exists. It's not new and we can't stop it.

<< Some have said that artists such as Eminem are unearthing their hurts in
their music. That's fine - but WHY do we all run out and buy it! >>

John Prine processed his hurts in music. So did other 60's/70's war veterans.
Billy Joel.
Joni Mitchell wrote songs every time she broke up with a boyfriend, which was
frequent enough to make her a millionaire in her 20's.
John Lennon went through all kinds of scream therapy and wrote a song every
time he thought about his mom again. People bought all that.

Sandra