When Hip Hop and Congress Collide (Updated)

Update: Here's a condensed, 10 minute video of one of the panels at today's hearing. You should watch it.

---------------------------------------------

I had no idea that this was going down, but both Davey D and The Seminal are reporting on congressional hearings on racism and misogyny in rap lyrics which occurred yesterday. The hearing took the form of three panels featuring a mix of record industry and entertainment executives, artists, and academics. Both DaveyD and The Seminal listened to the hearings almost in their entirety (something I've yet to do), so I'll make a few quick points and then refer you to their coverage.

1. It amazed me that even in this setting, the record industry executives tried to pawn this off on file-sharing and piracy. WTF? Props to Anthony Weiner for keeping them on track. It makes me somewhat more comfortable that he's probably the front runner to replace Bloomberg as Mayor of NYC.
2. Let's not forget our history here. I don't know who called this hearing, but I'm assuming it was a Democrat since we control the House. Democrats have a long history of pillorying the music industry for what they perceive to be their own electoral gain. They did it in the 80s, with the Parents Music Resource Center, which was headed by then Senator Al Gore's wife, Tipper and which instigated hearings into music ratings; Joe Lieberman has railed against the entertainment industry in general for decades; Clinton betrayed the music community over a manufactured controversy, and Hillary Clinton hates video games.
   

   All the while, Republicans have taken a much more libertarian view to the issue (evangelical christian groups aside). You could argue that The Wedding Crashers is a movie that in part degrades women (or men . . . ), yet that didn't stop John McCain from making a guest appearance. When 2 Live Crew got in trouble for obscenities at their events, it was Republicans who cited the first Amendment while Democrats excoriated the performers.

   All of this is in spite of the fact that violence among teens, teen pregnancy - all the indicators that entertainment is having a negative impact - are down.

   There is no causation between video games, music lyrics or violent movies and teen behavior. All of this hemming and hawing has done nothing but alienate cultural allies of the Democratic Party and the progressive movement without picking up one more vote for Democrats or addressing the real issues at stake when we talk about racism and misogyny in entertainment.

I think the folks at The Seminal summed it up best in their piece:

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.

You can listen to testimony here. Thanks to DaveyD for the Odeo links:

powered by ODEO

powered by ODEO

powered by ODEO