Like political apologies, using a variation of the “everybody’s doing it” is an all too convenient way to minimize behavior that we know is wrong. Here’s an example: I’ve written things on this blog that I ought not to have written. I’ve had to apologize, too. It is not enough to just say, “Well, the blogosphere can be a pretty rough place, we all write things we regret, and I’m not nearly as bad as ____________ anyway.” Any normal person sees that for exactly what it is: a copout. This recent flap about Imus is another example. I don’t care about Imus. I first became aware of him when Rep. Duncan Hunter mentioned The Gitmo Cookbook, which I am partly responsible for, on his show. But the double-standard is breathtaking. Power Line notes Barack Obama’s hypocrisy on this topic.
“I think that all of us have become a little complicit in this kind of relaxed attitude toward some pretty offensive things,” Obama said. “And I hope this prompts some self-reflection on the part of all of us.”
ALL of us have certainly not become a little complicit, and I don’t need any “self-reflection.” I stopped listening to rap music twenty years ago. If the topic of rap music comes up in conversation with other parents whose children like it, I ask them if they know what’s in the lyrics. If they don’t know, I tell them. If they do know, and still permit it, then they have my pity and my prayers, but certainly not my respect. I have no problem describing rap music accurately. It’s violent, abusive to women, and harmful to listeners.
The truth is that Obama is complicit, as the Power Line post describes in detail. Sharpton, Jackson, and many, many, many others are complicit. Every “social justice” promoting liberal entertainer who shares a stage with or votes to give an award to one of these misogynistic filth-spreaders is complicit, as are all the people who make money off the rap industry in any way, including stockholders in companies and advertisers. But we’re not all complicit. Obama, and many other people who have recently slammed Imus while giving rappers a free pass, are trying to load all of us on the bandwagon of bad behavior in order to minimize their own offenses. Well, I refuse. If nothing else comes of this scandal, maybe we can finally get people to notice the hypocrisy, double-standards, and harmfulness of the “culture” of hip-hop.
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