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View Profile Manic-Man
Blurb. Backwards, it spells brulb.

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Blame Shakespeare

Posted by Manic-Man - June 4th, 2008


So check this:

I was thinking the other night about something. My english class recently finished reading the Shakespeare play King Lear. This got me thinking, risky as it may be, about an issue which is quite relevant.

Parents and authority figures seem to like to use the media as a scapegoat when talking about problems with todays youth. They said that one of the reasons the Columbine kids did what they did was because they were Marilyn Manson fans. They blame gang violence on the rap scene. Of course, they only do this because they need to direct the fault somewhere else other than themselves.

I'm not saying that they're entirely wrong about this, however. Music and modern media does influence people, but not in the way that people seem to be accusing it of.

So, this made me think about something. We study Shakespeare in school. We read other works of fiction (similar to the fictional song lyrics, in most cases). What I don't get is that these works are also loaded with violence.

Anyone who's ever seen or read a play by Shakespeare will note that there is lots of violence. On top of that, there's so many sexual jokes, violent insults, and the like. I'm not saying that Shakespearean plays suck; in fact, I like them. However, I'd like to know why we don't blame the violence among youth on Shakespeare and the other authors of fictional works that are studied in school.

This material is more accesible by students than some forms of media too. And students are forced (more or less) to study it. Whereas they can choose what type of music they want to listen to or what type of movie they want to watch.

So, the question remains: why point the blame to the modern media when there's been a source thats been around a hell of a lot longer?

I know, I know, I can already hear the responses I'll be getting about this (the few I do get). It makes me wonder whether or not I should bother posting.

Then I realize I do it simply because I can! :)

Blame Shakespeare


Comments

I completely agree with you. There are too many steriotypes today that all revolve around music. I wear a lot of black and listen to metal, and as i was walking my dog(its a 40pound fluffy thing) this older couple quite litterally point at me and move to the other side of the street. As they pass on the other side all i heard was the women say(i paused my music) "all gothic kids are violent" It was just really annoying for me to hear considering that if you ask anyone that knows me, i am one of the nicest guys you could meet. Those people that hear sterio types just make me super angry. not all gothic kids are going to go to school and kill everyone, not all people who listen to rap aer gangstars, not all people that post on a internet website are nerds :P. What I am getting that here is that a lot of people are prejudice(spelt wrong) against other people jsut because of what music they lidten to, and it makes me angry

yea exactly. lol btw you spelt prejudice right

I don't think that the ones who force you to read these plays TRULY know that they are linked to the very same situations they blame everything on. Something like Marilyn Manson would automatically come across as a violent feeding, satanic, "no meaning to what he says" freak show to many people. Now something such as Shakespeare seems to come across as a learning experience and they seem to overlook the violence.

true but marilyn manson could be looked on as a learning experience as well. Hes been through some shit in life and it shows in his songs. People could learn how to deal with things from his songs.