Rantings Of A Mad Rodent

Now that I'm older, a little wiser, and have traveled the world, I've seen and learned a lot of things, and up until now, I thought I had most things figured out. I was wrong. The one thing that continues to puzzle me, is trying to figure out how the "blame game" works. As a bass player (El Pus, India.Arie, Anthony David, Sol Cypher, etc.) and former rapper (Tony MF Rock), I've been a part of an industry that's seen more than its fair share of blame. When groups like N.W.A. and 2 Live Crew were around, they were often blamed for a lot of bad things kids were doing at the time. N.W.A.'s "F**k Tha Police" and Body Count's "Cop Killa" were both blamed for police officers being shot in the 80's and 90's. , I'm pretty sure rampant police brutality had nothing to do with it. "Gangsta rap" was blamed for the rise in gang violence, even though gang violence was already bad before "gangsta rap" was even around. Hell, where do you think "gangsta rap" came from?

When the media first started blaming music for crap happening, people immediately took up the cause. People like Tipper Gore and C. Delores Tucker even made it their personal crusade, and records were required to display warning labels. As for me, I thought, "It's a reach, but I kinda see your point. If an impressionable kid listens to hardcore rap, it may cause him to go out and do some things. Okay.". From then on, the "blame game" was on and poppin'! Then in 1993, the World Trade Center bombing happened, and shortly after that, both CNN and ABC News ran follow up reports on it. They had an "expert" on the panel pointing out the flaws in the terrorists' plan to bring the WTC buildings down. This "expert" said that the only way to bring down a building of that magnitude, was to hit it from the middle and up. In 2001, that's exactly what they did! Oddly enough, nobody blamed those CNN and ABC News reports for "influencing " the terrorists like rap music influences gang members.

In the 90's and in the early part of this decade, we witnessed a rash of school shootings, and the media was quick to blame some forms of metal music, just as they had when 2 kids committed suicide after listening to a Black Sabbath tune. In most of the cases, the kids doing the shooting had been bullied, but instead of blaming that or the school administrators for not doing their jobs, blaming the music made more sense. When Bill O'Reilly took to the airwaves to called abortion doctor, George Tiller, a murderer, Tiller was gunned down soon afterwards. Did anyone blame Fox News or O'Reilly? He was simply called a "person who was passionate about his beliefs". Uh, yeah, okay. Maybe if Bill had said what he said with a "gangsta rap" track playing in the background, he'd have gotten his share of blame.

I thought I knew how the "blame game" worked. If video games like Grand Theft Auto can be blamed for the rise in vicious crimes among teens, then surely people like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh can be blamed for the rise in domestic terrorist plots, right? No? Hmm. Okay, then how about this; "Mind of a Lunatic" by the Geto Boyz was responsible for a few women getting raped and beaten, right? Yeah? Okay, I got that part. And Glenn Beck is responsible for helping to increase the division between blacks and whites, right? No? Really, why not? Is it because it wasn't done to music? CNN did story today pointing out all of the incorrect things done by the guy who failed to detonate a car bomb in Times Square. If they next guy, remembering what he learned watching that report, is successful, would CNN be as culpable as they made Marilyn Manson for the Columbine shootings? No? Okay, help me out here. I'm really having trouble trying to figure this "blame game" thing out.