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Does the music that is produced today have a direct affect on what teenagers in America will do? This is a question that many people over the last couple of years have asked constantly. With the recent Columbine incident, as well as the increase in school shootings, many people feel there is something to blame for the violence. In situations like these, art forms are usually the easiest to blame. There is no way to blame one person for the crimes at hand, and no one would like to believe that they just poorly raised their own children. Suddenly someone steps in and sees the teen listened to some sort of music, which is not acceptable by parents standards, and you have a culprit.
The problem with this is that, not everyone who has ever listened to any sort of music has developed a desire to go shoot everyone in his or her school. No study has proven that music makes a person do anything but maybe listen to the song again. Therefore music has no direct affect on what people decide to do with their lives. Recently, shock-rock has become a very popular genre of music. A group named Marilyn Manson has been heavily in the media since 1995.
This particular group bases its career on its shock value. When the Columbine shootings occurred, many people put the blame on Brain Warner, the lead singer of Marilyn Manson, because of his eccentric appearance and lyrics. Many American parents felt that his differences from a more mainstream act like Brittany Spears, made his lyrics all that more offensive. Since the two boys involved with the Columbine shootings listened to Marilyn Manson, he was ultimately blamed for their murderous rampage. The media however hardly touched on the fact that both the boys were often tormented at school for being different. Secondly, that they both had a deep hatred for the jocks that made fun of them everyday.
And finally, that no one ever paid much attention to what they were doing. I am convinced that normal, healthy adolescents do not suddenly "just snap" and go on murder rampages. Almost always, adolescents who perpetrate these acts of violence against others or themselves have long histories of psychiatric illness. These teenagers obviously had issues that needed to be attended to by professionals.
Unfortunately, since their parents did not take the extra time to look at their childrens lives, the Columbine tragedy could have not been prevented. Another example of where music is blamed for teen violence is in the case of, Columbine student Greg Barnes. Barnes committed suicide, May 4, 2000, while having Blink 182 s, Adams song repeats on his CD player. Some of the lyrics in the song suggest suicide, but only in a negative light. Mark Hoppus, Blink 182 s singer explains, Any intelligent person that listens to that song will know that it's an anti-suicide song, and so if you listen to the lyrics it's pretty self-explanatory that it's about going through a hard time and It was a very unfortunate thing that that happened and our heart goes out to the kid's family, but the song itself... I think the message is pretty clear actually.
Seeing that the Columbine shootings were a very traumatizing experience for a young person to face, Greg Barnes should have been getting psychiatric attention to get him through the rough times. Music seems to be the easiest to blame because it is so vague, and directly telling people that they did not do everything they could to help their children is not a popular idea. None the less, Music continues to be blamed for peoples freedom to make their own decisions. In conclusion, Music is increasingly being blamed for teenagers violence and the decisions they choose to make.
Suicide and manslaughter have been recent forms of teenage violence and no one is sure who to blame for these catastrophes. Music that the teens listen to makes an easy and unjustified scapegoat. America needs to be looking at the bigger picture, which is that teenagers and children are not getting the required attention from adults. Music isnt the culprit, America is.
Bibliography: Harold S. Koplewicz, M. D. Preempting Teen Violence HYPERLINK "/IMNG/Pediatric News / public /archive/ 1999 /toc- 3311.
html" Pediatric News. International Medical News Group. 1999. Mark Hoppus. Blink 182 Discusses Adams Song and Suicide. HYPERLINK web 6809, 00.
html web 6809, 00. html. May 2000.
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Research essay sample on Marilyn Manson Teen Violence
