Music For Acts Of Violence And Murder example essay topic

Music Today: Entertainment or Influence to Murder? Teen violence, murder, suicide; they seem to be becoming more and more rampant everyday. The media, as well as concerned, angry parents, look everywhere to find someone to blame for these tragedies. Their fingers are pointed in the direction of many music entertainers.

Artists and performers are being badgered everyday for their lyrics and image they create for their fans. Can music really influence someone to acts of violence? Maybe, to the mentally unstable or uneducated. Is music at fault for these acts of violence? Absolutely not. It cannot be blamed for the crimes of obvious psychotic adolescents.

The music business, mainly "death" metal, has been said to be at fault for major tragedies, for example the Columbine High School Shootings. In fact, one media spokesperson even related the two killers to Marilyn Manson because they were apparently dressed like him. This constant distraction of pointing the blame on someone else just strays our focus on the real causes. Music can directly express the personality of many individuals. The way the dress, the way they talk. Overall it expresses the way a person feels.

However, can music be blamed for the actions some of it's listeners my take? Over the past ten years or so, music has been the scapegoat to many murders, acts of violence, and sexual abuse for many years now. Many cases have now opened with the introduction of Death Metal to music world. Since many murders are now rampant within young children and teenagers, there must be someone to blame for them. One example is in 1995 the Death Metal band Slayer was blamed for encouraging Royce Casey, Joseph Fiorella, and Jacob Delashmutt to torture and kill Elyse Pahler, 15-years-old. The parents of Pahler blame the disgusting lyrics of Slayer to the crime.

The three boys, all fans of Slayer and bands of their stature, were all found guilty and are still serving time in jail. The Pahler's tried suing both the band, and the record companies for making these albums available to young teens. However, the courts threw out all the accusations against Slayer and the record companies, with right cause. The music didn't kill their daughter, the three boys did and are now serving their time (Horn, 1).

Another case noted, 17-year-old Jay Field on Howell was arrested for stabbing a girl in the neck. The girl survived, but Howell still remains in jail. The boy was apparently watching a video by Marilyn Manson before this act of violence took place. The parents of the young girl also tried suing the record companies, but the courts also threw out the case.

Whether Howell was watching Bambi or a Marilyn Manson video, this psychotic teen would have acted in such violence because that is what their mind was set on doing. But the parents are still fighting to stop the records from being sold. Parents of the victims are trying to sensor the lyrics or ban the albums of such "satanic" bands from being sold. They believe the sale to young audiences must be observed much closer, because such albums can influence these young listeners to violence or murder (Temple, 1).

Can these bands really affect the way people act? Courts in all these cases dismiss the lawsuits against bands and record companies. The courts agree that the lyrics are obscene and disgusting, but they must follow the first amendment law. These bands have the right to say and write lyrics they believe are appropriate. Just because an obviously mentally unstable youth can misinterpret the idea of the song cannot take away the band's freedom to speak out their emotions through song. Instead of parents telling everyone else to more carefully monitor their children, they should try taking a shot at good parenting themselves.

Parents of the victims and an angry public are doing whatever they can to inform other parents of the obscene lyrics in the music their children listen to. A Texas group are offering "Marilyn Manson Awareness Training" to all parents of children who are fans of the famous Death Metal artist. One of these members states, "Parents of Manson fans should consider hospitalizing their children (Morgan, 1)". It's generalizations like these that ruin adolescents. Just because one killer MAY have been a fan of Manson's music, doesn't make every listener a serial killer. These parents are fighting all they can so the music companies look into much stricter ratings for the albums they put available to young audiences.

But is music the real reason why teens take these gruesome actions? Or is the real reason right in front of our faces? Music companies, artists and their fans speak out about their opinion and how music does not directly state to anyone to commit acts of violence or even murder. Slayer vocalist A raya states, "If we were really evil, we would be doing everything we " re writing about. They " re trying to blame the whole thing on us. If you " re gonna do something stupid like that [Pahler case], you should get in trouble for it (Waxman, 1)".

As evil and satanic these lyrics can appear to be, it is just an expression of someone's personality. It is not meant for children to get influence from. As a matter of fact, these lyrics are just mostly expressing the world today. A spokeswoman for Columbia Records states, "It's a matter of opinion how you take the music, but I think it's fiction, period (Waxman, 2)". People and the angry parents of the victims need to find a scapegoat other than themselves to blame for these atrocities. Slayers music is said to be "poisonous" or a "drug" to all listeners.

However, other artists, in their time, considered "poisonous" to some: bluesman Eric Johnson, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and many other noted jazz musicians. Why are there no records of murders being connected to them? Alec Miller states, "A ruling that Slayer and various record companies are liable would do nothing to prevent mentally ill children from committing acts of brutality (Miller, 2)". If all "death" metal bands were censored and done away with, then who would be point the blame at next? In many cases, these "concerned" parents state that these bands and record companies just stating this to save their careers. On the contrary, that is not true according to Delashmutt, one of the boys involved in the Pahler case.

He states, "The music is destructive, but that's not why Elyse was murdered. She was murdered because Joe [Fiorella] was obsessed with her, and obsessed with killing her (Waxman, 2)". It seems to many, parents just need to find someone to blame for these heinous crimes. To many, Marilyn Manson is that scapegoat. Manson is most noted for being blamed for adolescent murder and violence. In fact, the most noted example was when moralists pointed the Columbine shooting to his music.

Although, maybe these moralists should have done their homework a little more carefully. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold actually hated Manson's music, greatly! All these lawsuits deflect attention from the real causes, which are poor parenting, abuse, neglect, lack of education and the media. People and parents spend too much time blaming music for acts of violence and murder when the real cause is right in front of their eyes.

The first few people on this earth did not need any books, movies, games or music to inspire murder. The only motivation Cain needed when he killed his brother Abel was his own human disposition. Why is there blame towards all these now? Marilyn Manson believes that blaming him for such murders is just ignorance. In one of his beliefs he states:" Whether you interpret the Bible as literature or as the final word of whatever God may be, Christianity has given us an image of death and sexuality that we have based our culture around. A half-naked dead man hangs in most of our homes and around our necks, and we have just taken that for granted all our lives.

Is it a symbol of hope or hopelessness? The world's most famous murder-suicide was also the birth of a death icon -- the blueprint for celebrity. Unfortunately, for all of their inspiring morality, nowhere in the Gospels is intelligence praised as a virtue (Manson, 1)". To most it wouldn't take long before they jumped down Manson's throat for such an opposing statement. His statement has the same validity as the rest who oppose his lyrics.

Manson shares many of his beliefs threw his songs and lyrics. But is not to blame for the ignorance of young killers. The media, in fact, almost praises death and violence in the world today. The media creates all killers or criminals into almost heroes the way they post them up on all their magazines or television shows. Right after the Columbine shootings, throughout the entire country you saw the faces of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris on the front page of every newspaper.

There is no purpose in creating such an image for these disgusting criminals and killers. Times have not become more violent, they have just become more televised. Manson says, "Media are vultures always on the lookout for corpses, exploiting, f# king, filming and serving it up for our hungry appetites in a gluttonous display of endless human stupidity (Manson, 2)". But instead of them being blamed, they blame Manson. America loves to find an icon to hang it's guilt on. The Media put an immediate blame to Marilyn Manson in the Columbine High School shootings.

The two kids were "wearing make-up" and "dressed like Marilyn Manson". Those two boys listened to a different type of music that was not popular or on the radio, but the media had picked a more popular name, Marilyn Manson, they thought was similar. Why is it that people like to believe in killing for the right reason? Manson expresses himself by saying:" Isn't killing just killing, regardless if it's in Vietnam or Jonesboro, Arkansas? Why do we justify one just because it seems to be for the right reason?

If a kid is old enough to drive a car or buy a gun, isn't he old enough to be responsible for what he does with it? Or if he's a teenager, should someone else be blamed because he isn't as enlightened as an eighteen-year-old (Manson, 4)?" There should be no praise for death in this world, whether it be in war or just cold blooded murder. So is entertainment to blame for all these acts of violence, murder, and sexual abuse? The media commentators should ask themselves this question because their coverage of these events were some of the most gruesome entertainment any of us have ever seen.

Bibliography

Horn, John. 'Heavy Metal: Music to Murder By?' Newsweek 4 Nov. 2000: pp.
46. Manson, Marilyn. 'Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?' Rolling Stone 28 May 1999: pp.
1-5. Miller, Alec. 'Rockin' in the Free World?' The Washington Post 3 Feb. 2001: pp.
A 20. Morgan, Fiona. Mother's Who Think. 17 Jan. 2001 web Temple, Johnny.
Noise From the Underground. ' The Nation 18 Oct. 1999: pp.
17-18, 20. Waxman, Sharon. 'Did 'Death Metal' Music Incite Murder? ; Lawsuit Against Band, Distributors Could Overcome First Amendment Hurdle. ' The Washington Post 23 Jan. 2001: pp.