" This statement can be backed up by looking outside America, to Mongolia, where "MTV is available on cable television, bootleg CDs blare from kiosks- Here, western music has had a great influence on the musical tendencies and affections of society. Music suited to the likings of American teenagers is enjoyed by teenagers and middle-aged Mongolians alike. Inner-city American violence has existed long before rap was developed. It can be assumed that rap was shaped to fit the culture it was developed in. Rap-style music in Mongolia is free from the slanderous and violent tones that line American rap, because the environment is not suited to it. Rappers rap about their lives. If a rapper's life is filled with violence, the rap will be filled with violence. Blaming rap is easy and convincing, because someone can hold a CD in his hand and say "This is the problem. Eliminating it is the solution." Everyone looks for an easy target for blame. Unfortunately, the problem is greatly more difficult to fix and much deeper than a minority talking about his day to a beat.
Numerous parents are scared to death that their child will be influenced by music enough to act violently or suicidal. One parent, in a letter to Senator Joseph Lieberman wrote, "Our children are quietly being destroyed (dying), by this man's[Marilyn Manson] music, by ones and twos in scattered isolation throughout our nation today." It is true that some of Manson's lyrics promote suicide, but how impressionable are youths, really? It is very convenient for a parent to blame their child's suicide on lyrics promoting it and ignore any outside influences or upbringing errors, but how realistic is that? Firstly, it is an extremely impressionable child who kills himself because someone sings(or screams) that he should. The common phrase "If someone told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?" comes to mind. It seems fairly evident that anyone willing to kill himself, whether told to or not, must be having serious problems outside his home stereo.
