Sometimes the easiest route isn't the best one.
I wonder if many parents today realize how true that is. In our \instant gratification"" society, most kids can convince their parents to buy them anything. In the case of music or movies, most parents don't bother to check what they are buying. They just check a rating label and toss the item into the cart, leaving all the responsibility on the entertainment industry and the government.
Like I said, sometimes the easiest route isn't the best one.
This lack of responsibility first hit me a few weeks ago. Linkin Park, Cypress Hill and Adema brought their Projekt: Revolution tour to Madison's Alliant Energy Center, and anyone who attended would probably tell you it was incredible. However, the show was definitely meant for a ""mature"" audience only; after all, we are talking about Cypress Hill.
Nothing bothered me about the explicit nature of the show'until I noticed how many preteen kids were there, many accompanied by parents.
After years of hearing about parental outrage at the entertainment industry for targeting minors in advertising, I thought by now parents would inform themselves about the bands before taking their kids to a concert like this.
Offensive material in film, television and music has been the subject of protest and debate for decades. Concerned parents have formed organizations to try and fight against the violent and vulgar content that is so often present in the latest chart-topping tracks. Because of parents' efforts, the government and the entertainment industry now provide ratings for movies, television programs and video games. CDs often get slapped with a parental advisory sticker, and bands are forced to produce a ""clean"" version of their album in order to get it on sales racks in retail chains like Wal-Mart.
After all the ratings, warning labels and self-imposed censorship, one would think America's worried parents could sleep well at night. The government has supposedly blocked any and all access young children have to explicit material. Now, only a small percentage of parents know which television programs their children watch or what music they listen to. Parents rely on ratings, advisories and warnings; suddenly, the government has assumed responsibility for raising our youth.
In reality, there are still problems with the system. Young children still gain access to curse-laden rap music and watch slasher movies on a regular basis. Most members of our generation were able to buy a CD containing explicit lyrics without ever being questioned by a clerk. The fact is that retail shops and theaters rarely check how old a child is when selling them mature video games and CDs or admitting them to R-rated movies. Obviously, the government and entertainment industry cannot and should not be expected to protect the ears and eyes of young children.
It seems many people in society fail to realize the problems inherent with legislative parenting. Instead, many are satisfied with the mere existence of content ratings. No longer having to worry about monitoring what their children are listening to, parents can now play the role of a ""friend""'by taking their pre-teen to a Projekt: Revolution concert. There's a great influence: songs about smoking weed, wild mosh pits, body passing and DJs trying to get women to flash the crowd.
Instead of protesting television shows and lobbying to Congress, parental groups need to spread knowledge and awareness of existing ratings systems to fellow parents. If a father doesn't want his child to listen to music filled with swearing, then he's responsible for paying attention to popular bands and monitoring which bands his child is listening to. Advisory labels cannot be the sole basis for these types of decisions. Parents need to make well-informed decisions about what is and what is not appropriate for their children to listen to.
