{"id":118,"date":"2005-02-23T08:26:08","date_gmt":"2005-02-23T08:26:08","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2005-02-23T08:26:08","modified_gmt":"2005-02-23T08:26:08","slug":"rap-and-gangs-society-and-oreilly-blames-the-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2005\/02\/23\/rap-and-gangs-society-and-oreilly-blames-the-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Rap and Gangs ? Society and O&#8217;Reilly Blames the Music"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am fairly conservative by nature, and I really enjoy the O\u2019Reilly Factor, but I am sick and tired of passing the buck to explain why certain segments of society misbehave.  It is a fairly well known fact that O\u2019Reilly thinks that \u201cRap Culture\u201d contributes to juvenile delinquency.  I disagree with this thesis.<\/p>\n<p>Last night on the O\u2019Reilly Factor there was a segment linking 50 Cent to gangster violence.  I will admit that the \u201cmessage\u201d in 50 Cent\u2019s songs is not exactly wholesome.  I listen to some of his music (love me some \u201cCandy Shop\u201d \u2013 listed to it twice this morning), but blaming gangster behavior on 50 Cent is just too much.  Seriously, the very nature of gangs is based on respect (as if I am an expert after playing GTA), sex, and violence (I can read the news).<\/p>\n<p>What bothers me the most is that everyone from religious zealots to the media to misguided parents is always searching for a scapegoat to explain why good kids go bad;   Dungeons and Dragons, music, video games, TV violence, and even Smurfs.  It is just too much.  Let\u2019s just admit that some segments of society are completely f\u2019ed-up regardless of the music they listen to, the games they play, and the amount of time they spend watching TV.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the day the problems run much deeper;   poverty, discrimination, broken marriages, out-of-wedlock babies, lack of respect, poor public education, and the list goes on.  I admit that I am very blessed.  I grew up in a good home (my parents did divorce when I was very young).  I lived in a nice neighborhood with prosperous families, and my parents provided me with a good education.  I may not know what poverty is like, and I may never know how it feels to be discriminated against based on the color of my skin, but I do know that I have values, a decent amount of morality, and a firm grasp on my religious convictions.  In other words, I am fairly well grounded.<\/p>\n<p>I am not saying that I am perfect, but I have not been influenced to the point of misbehavior based on various forms of media.  Growing up I played Dungeons and Dragons, I scratched many a record looking for stupid messages, I have played video games most of my life, I watched violent TV and movies, and I am even ashamed to admit that I watched the Smurfs.  I was listening to Prince the day my step-father told me that Prince was not allowed in the house; nice and protective of my dad, but I guess he was an ignorant bloke.  Prince was \u201cbad\u201d so he was not allowed in our house \u2013 of course I said screw that and kept on listening to this day.<\/p>\n<p>Have to blame it on something \u2026<\/p>\n<p>If you have to ask about records, then please do not because it will make me feel too damn dated.<\/p>\n<div class=\"addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content_bottom\"><div class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_ addtoany_list a2a_target\" id=\"wpa2a_1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share', '');\" class=\"a2a_dd addtoany_share_save\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/add-to-any\/share_save_171_16.png\" width=\"171\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\nif(wpa2a)wpa2a.script_load();\n\/\/--><\/script>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am fairly conservative by nature, and I really enjoy the O\u2019Reilly Factor, but I am sick and tired of passing the buck to explain why certain segments of society misbehave. It is a fairly well known fact that O\u2019Reilly thinks that \u201cRap Culture\u201d contributes to juvenile delinquency. I disagree with this thesis. Last night &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2005\/02\/23\/rap-and-gangs-society-and-oreilly-blames-the-music\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Rap and Gangs ? Society and O&#8217;Reilly Blames the Music<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content_bottom\"><div class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_ addtoany_list a2a_target\" id=\"wpa2a_2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share', '');\" class=\"a2a_dd addtoany_share_save\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/add-to-any\/share_save_171_16.png\" width=\"171\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}