There exists two purposes of music in the mass media. The first is to influence the public of the composers' and artistes' point of view, the second is that it exists to sell itself. The connotations that can be read from the lyrics of a song can be both positive and negative, from Rihanna's "Umbrella" which promotes friendship and love or Black Eyed Peas' "Where is the Love?" which promotes world peace, to Metallica's "All Nightmare Long" which is excessively violent and talks about murder and pain. This shows that there is a huge difference between what different musics can portray and thus we should be selective about what we listen to.
Different music have different target audiences, but mainstream music in the media influence an international audience, from young to old, black to white. While groups like the American Psychological Association (APA) might believe that music with violent lyrics should be banned and removed from society, it is true that people tend to flock to whatever it is they prefer. Hence, people with violent tendencies flock to violent music while others listen to more joyous songs in the media. Therefore, all forms of music should be allowed to be released as we should be able to trust the public to be able to use sound judgment to ensure that what they are listening to will not influence them to do immoral activities.
However, there are exceptions in the form of music that talks about other people's religions, like a song in the video game Little Big Planet, where a song had snippets from the Quran in it. This had the potential to cause an uproar, and Sony thus wisely implemented a patch which removed that song.
Nonetheless, I feel that we should have freedom of choice to choose the music we listen to, and that we should be able to be relied upon to do what is right.
Different music have different target audiences, but mainstream music in the media influence an international audience, from young to old, black to white. While groups like the American Psychological Association (APA) might believe that music with violent lyrics should be banned and removed from society, it is true that people tend to flock to whatever it is they prefer. Hence, people with violent tendencies flock to violent music while others listen to more joyous songs in the media. Therefore, all forms of music should be allowed to be released as we should be able to trust the public to be able to use sound judgment to ensure that what they are listening to will not influence them to do immoral activities.
However, there are exceptions in the form of music that talks about other people's religions, like a song in the video game Little Big Planet, where a song had snippets from the Quran in it. This had the potential to cause an uproar, and Sony thus wisely implemented a patch which removed that song.
Nonetheless, I feel that we should have freedom of choice to choose the music we listen to, and that we should be able to be relied upon to do what is right.
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cheers,
genghao, fai faii, shelveen & small girl wanyi
cheers,
genghao, fai faii, shelveen & small girl wanyi
An excellent and cogent post.
ReplyDeleteI applaud your insight - particularly the point on selective listenership. However,I do think you've indirectly assumed that people can be trusted to be selective.
Can we?
What if someone enjoys a particular genre of music (for example rap) because it is objectionable (for example the themes of sex and violence in rap) - that it identifies them as social rebels or even social deviants?
Also, what if specific types of music may be associated with specific communities (for example rap and the Black ghetto)?
Should we accept that this is an acceptable social norm simply because it is an existing social norm?