The other day I watched the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Hearing in the House of Representatives entitled “From Imus to Industry: The Business of Stereotypes and Degrading Images.” As you can probably tell by the title, most of the people who testified had no idea what they were talking about.
For one, while almost everyone agreed that that there was some sort of “problem” in America, most of the Representatives didn’t act like they realized art and culture aren’t created in a vacuum. In their opening statements, they claimed that young people in America were being reduced to “automatons” and that violence in music and on television lead to increased crime on the streets. One Congresswoman even went so far as to ask rappers and others who produce controversial content where society had failed them so badly that they were motivated to produce such “filth.”
More such silliness after the jump...
Cross posted at The Seminal
For the most part, the people who testified weren’t completely cogent either. The industry executives who spoke during the first panel continually went back to the fact/excuse that everything in the music industry is essentially uncontrollable these days. Due to the rise of the Internet, children can access whatever content they want. The industry begged Congress to “stop the stealing” that was happening online, basically promising that if file sharing went away, the music industry would be able to control culture again through their use of such amazing and effective tools as the parental advisory sticker and the edited, clean version of an album.
Not one of the record execs had the strength or the thoughtfulness to admit that record companies do not make trends (as the Committee members continually accused them of doing, to the detriment of society), they only follow them. Record companies exist to make money, and as such, they hop onto anything that’s hot, even if it does promote violence or degrade women. Corporations, especially the large entrenched ones of the music industry, are risk averse. They are the last ones to catch onto anything.
The feminists and media scholars that spoke in the third panel got closer to the heart of the issue, but they were still a bit misguided. For the most part, they spoke out against deep rooted misogyny and racism that is ingrained in the fabric of our country. This is the right attitude. Art and culture is informed by the structure of society. The answer to the oft-repeated question of why such shocking images are popular is that society in general still holds these attitudes on a very deep level.
However, the theme of the discussion here was that the right of free speech comes with a responsibility to use it wisely. This is flat out the wrong way to look at things. When the founding fathers decided to enshrine free speech in our nation’s Constitution, they pledged to take the good with the bad. As Voltaire said, “I may disagree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” The only responsibility we have for free speech is to not yell, “Fire!” in a crowded theater. Solving the “problem” doesn’t mean legislating free speech responsibility.
Education might be one answer, as was touched upon by the witnesses. Though I don’t believe violence on television or misogyny in hip hop lyrics causes school shootings or domestic violence, children should be taught about the media either at home or in school. Learning to take media images with a grain of salt from a young age is an invaluable skill, not only for cultural development but for independent political thought as well.
The second panel contained the rappers David Banner and Master P, as well as Dr. Michael Eric Dyson from Georgetown University. Banner for the most part got it right, repeatedly telling the Committee members that “this is only music.” By producing music that has negative content (which Master P continually apologized for), the artists were simply reflecting their upbringing and co-opting the language of their oppressors. While this is true, it still doesn’t get to the real heart of the issue. Only Dr. Dyson truly seemed to understand.
He said that he doesn’t want art that is “positive,” he wants art that is complex and challenging. That’s what art is. As I’ve said before, if you eliminated every negative lyric in hip hop music tomorrow and replaced them with positive messages, hip hop still wouldn’t be art, and hip hop still wouldn’t be a positive force in society. Most people see right through mainstream hip hop’s flashy imagery, just as they see right through a lot of positive hip hop’s false boosterism.
Art is stronger than that. Art is self-reflective. Art can sometimes make people uncomfortable. Because it reflects the truth, it is powerful. Hip hop can be art, and at one time it was. In the 90’s, when people like NWA were screaming, “Fuck the police,” they were reflecting the truth of the time. It was powerful and it still is today.
With all the stories you’ve been hearing lately about police brutality, these lyrics still ring true.
Most mainstream hip hop is not art, and therefore it is not powerful. Kids in America like to buy music that talks about sex and violence because they themselves want to have sex and are angry and sometimes violent. It doesn’t happen the other way around. Hip hop is no longer the driving force behind anything more important than the latest trend in sneakers or hair extensions. Why we are worried about this phenomenon is beyond me. I guess it’s a convenient scapegoat.
Instead, we need to be focused on root causes, as Dyson and others pointed out. It was good to see the discussion in the hearing return time and time again to basic issues of racism and sexism. This isn’t about the music industry. This isn’t about parental controls or censorship or moral degradation. If you have a problem with sex and violence in culture, then you need to examine that culture a little more critically. The degradation of black women and the violence against and between black men existed long before hip hop was invented and will likely exist long afterwards. Solving the hip hop “problem” will not actually solve anything.
If you really want to solve this “problem,” if it really is a problem to be solved, then you need to start digging deeper. Addressing issues like poverty, opportunity, and the drug war are a good start. If you eliminate the roots of violence, sexism, and racism in society, then violent, racist, or sexist cultural products can be taken for exactly what they are: Entertainment, nothing more, nothing less.
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Culture Kos is a series of culture diaries at Daily Kos. Though discussions of art and music aren't in keeping with the main thrust of this site, I think there are a lot of interesting people here who have opinions on the subject, and I believe a discussion of culture can never be truly divorced from a discussion of politics, as both touch our lives deeply. Feel free to use the Culture Kos label and tag in any of your own work.