Music is everywhere in our lives. We hear it on TV, in elevators, in stores, and blaring out of a car four blocks away. It's everywhere, but what impact does it have on our lives? Statistics show calm soothing music playing in a store makes people buy more. Doctors have also used music as therapy. However, some say that some forms of music, specifically rock and rap, have a negative effect on society.
Many have said that the violent images portrayed in music videos and the offensive lyrics in songs, encourage violence in teens. They say that the individual sees a violent act being committed in the video, or hears a violent act being described in the lyrics, and then tries to mimic that behavior.
While it is true that, yes, kids often mimic the actions of others in order to be "cool," I do not believe this is the case with music. The individuals listening to these kinds of music range from 13, to people in their 30's, and even some older then that. These people are old enough to make their own decisions about their actions.
Music is not going to push someone to violence, unless they had already thought of doing so. The music may have stirred up the emotions of the person, but it did not cause them to commit a crime, they made that decision on their own.
Kids are not committing crimes because of music, they are committing crimes because no one will listen to them. Everyone thinks kids today are just mindless drones, following the lead of the media as it plays it's song of sex, violence, and corruption. No one thinks that adolescent's have brains and can effectively use them, and teens are lashing out against society because of that. If society would listen more to our nations youth, and if more parents would try to build stronger relationships with their kids and talk to them more, maybe this problem wouldn't exist.
Also, I can't help but feel a sense of deja-vu as I look at the history of rock and roll. Many artists in the past were labeled as evil by society. Elvis was one of these performers who was said to be corrupting the youth, and now many people look up to him as a hero, and one of the forefathers of rock and roll. Aren't we doing the same thing to today's artists.
In closing, I think it is absurd that when ever an adolescent does something wrong, everyone points to the music as a scapegoat, and overlooks the real problem. Perhaps if we wouldn't ignore the real problems, like broken homes, domestic violence, being harassed in school, and poor academic performance, then kids wouldn't feel the need to commit a crime to get some attention.
