with DeadSun
You've seen him in Fan Speak all around
the antiMUSIC network, now DeadSun gets his big show as the host of his
very own talk show, The Not Quite-So DeadShow ! Forget Oprah and
Dr. Phil, DeadSun knows how to liven up a talk show.
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He
Was A Good Boy; The Music Made Him Do It
As I write this, Alfonso Ignacio Morales
is standing trial, having been charged with the brutal murder of four people.
Throughout the duration of the trial so
far, witnesses have come forward to describe a young man who was mild mannered,
courteous, and friendly to the people whom he ultimately wound up butchering.
There is no hard evidence to support the notion that Morales had a drug
problem, and he has no past history of violence. If convicted, Morales
could be sentenced to death. Suffice it to say that the search is on for
answers... and therefore all three rings of the Media Circus are open for
business. As is often the case within our victim role-based society, I
once again find myself being indirectly instructed to look everywhere else
BUT the individual who acted out the event. How about drugs? Did he have
a drug problem? Drugs are always good in that regard. "He was fine until
the drugs took hold of him". I guess he didn't have a drug problem, and
so we'll just have to keep digging. Did he come from a broken home? Nothing
mitigates a homicidal atrocity quite as well as when we learn that a killer
had a difficult childhood. I guess that doesn't apply here as well, either.
Now I'm stumped. Naturally, any reasonable,
educated person should have long since discarded the notion that an individual
does something horrible, because there is something inside of the individual
that is horrible, and that all blame rests squarely on the shoulders of
said individual. Right?
Of course not.
In the kind of time honored, sinister innuendo
that makes for smashing sensationalism, it has been ominously reported
that--- according to witness testimony--- Alfonso Ignacio Morales often
dressed in black. In addition to this great, decisive element, we
are informed with both brevity and (presumably) insight that Alfonso Ignacio
Morales was not only an avid fan of the band Slayer, but wore a shirt
that depicted the band at the time he allegedly committed these heinous
crimes.
Now we're getting somewhere. It was the
music. The music inspired him to dress in black--- "phase one", if you
will--- and then, for the coup de grace, emboldened him to kill.
Is it my imagination, or do you think someone
is trying to sell a few extra copies of the Sunday news?
Is this anything new?
Never mind the legitimate argument that
this is insulting to the friends and family of the real victims, and that
the media are once more set into a predictable pattern whereupon they behave
like creeps. The media may only be doing what comes natural to them, but
I think that scary ramifications arise whenever we begin to disolve the
boundaries which establish the culpability of the individual. It is bad
enough being in a world that is home to a school of thought which teaches
us that everybody is a victim--- even (somehow) those who are the victimizers
themselves. I'm fairly certain we don't need the media helping us along
in this capacity, because this mentality always seems to result in governmental
intervention.
During the 1930's, the United States Congress
warned parents that jazz music might turn their teenagers into "dope fiends".
By 1968, Charles Manson believed that he could communicate telepathically
with The Beatles, and that the song "Revelation 9" was actually an encoded
metaphor which heralded the coming of a great race war. In 1985, the media
took great delight inexorably linking Richard Ramirez, better known as
the "Night Stalker", with AC/DC's album "Highway to Hell". In 1988, an
attempt was made to bring legal charges against Ozzy Osbourne for the suicide
of a teenager whom he had never made any contact with on any level. The
same mighty finger of blame found its way to Judas Priest in 1990. In 1996,
the parents of a murdered teen brought Slayer and its record label up on
wrongful death charges. Jumping tracks over to the realm of film, the Supreme
Court (in 1999) ruled to allow a law suit to move forward against the makers
of "Natural Born Killers". With the current case against Morales, we may
SOON be back for another round of "rock music is the devil, call the PMRC,
set up Senate hearings, and the record industry had better start policing
itself, or we're going to move forward with OUR proposals". You think I'm
an alarmist? Think back. Hell, just read this paragraph again. Were any
of you around in 1985, when Tipper Gore and Susan Baker embarked on their
Crusade against "porn rock"? Many would argue that the PMRC has even more
clout than it did twenty years, only that they wisely stay off of the radar
these days.
Naturally, this causes me to do something
that I have been doing relentlessly since I could speak--- something which,
I have found, always seems to frustrate those who find themselves in the
enviable position of always knowing what is best for everybody else: I
ask questions.
Question: Could words, devoid of atomic
structure, have physically caused Alfonso Ignacio Morales to murder? No.
If he is found guilty, could these lyrics have, by way of suggestion, induced
Morales to murder? Some will disagree--- but my answer is still "no".
I will entertain, for the sake of debate,
that they did. Let us assume, for just a moment, that Morales was but a
puppet on a string, under the spell of Slayer lyrics.
Questions: How come the lyrics don't compel
me to murder anybody, everytime I pop Slayer into my cd player? Apparently,
these lyrics, allegedly capable of inspiring good citizens to kill, somehow
have the power to CHOOSE who falls into their evil clutches. Are these
magic lyrics? Like smart bombs?
To me, logic dictates that, at the very
best, these lyrics would have to be regarded as so sophisticated, they
can select SPECIFIC individual targets in those whom the lyrics wish to
do their bidding.Otherwise, we would have over 2.8 million mass murderering
Slayer fans on our hands--- hell, I would be one of them. I think that
ultimately, it's a silly argument to uphold. The problem is, nobody kills
because they are "killer" anymore. Nobody steals because they're a thief.
Nobody rapes because they're a rapist. No. The drugs did it. His father
didn't love him enough. His classmates teased him. She was wearing a rather
short skirt, you know. Here's another one: HE SUCCUMBED TO ROCK LYRICS.
What a bunch of insincere garbage.
Leave my First Ammendment rights alone.
We can do without the media ghouls throwing these idiotic, logically deficient
sentiments around, in a blithe attempt to yank heartstrings and prey upon
the irrational fears of out of touch parents and over-zealous, faith-based
groups. We know the course that this sort of phenomenon charts for itself.
We can do without our Senators and Representatives establishing a government
oversight committee, and charging said committee with the function of deciding
what is harmful matter to our ears and eyes. This isn't network television
and radio that we're talking about, ladies and gents.
In the meantime, be on guard. Whether they
are coming from the political Left or the Right, there is no shortage of
persons in our world who presume to know what is best for you and I, and
they are going to seize upon ANY incident that affords them the oppurtunity
to advance their own agenda.
... and if any of those persons happen
to be reading this, please--- leave my music to ME. Leave my film to ME.
Leave my thoughts to ME. Leave my language to ME.
I'll do the same for you.
Promise.
DS
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