Moral_Panics

"Asses the reasons why 'moral panics' occurred about Gangster Rap and Mods and Rockers' Where these panics justified'" In this essay I will talk about moral panics around gangster rap and other genres of music. Moral Panic is when a group of people feel a concern about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. Stanley Cohen – author of `Folk Devils and Moral Panics´ (1972), says that a moral panic occurs when `a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests´. When people have trouble adapting to change they feel fear and loss of control and when the media exaggerate these “dangers”, the fears will he heightened. Media also tend to find up stories to avoid the people from seeing the real and bigger problems within the society, so to scapegoat is not unusual within moral panics. In the mid of 1980 gangster rap was pioneered by rappers like Ice-T and Schooly D, and became more popular in the late 80’s by groups as N.W.A. (Niggaz with Attitude). But the genre Gangster rap caused a great deal of controversy, and was criticized by many people. Especially religious leaders criticized the genre and accused it of promoting violence, profanity, sex, promiscuity, homophobia, rape, street gangs, vandalism, use of weapons, stealing, drug abuse and dealing, alcohol abuse and materialism. Whilst rappers prefer to themselves as actors, playing a role that describes the reality of the inner-city life, but they don’t necessarily endorse this behavior. Do gangster rap promote violence among other things or does society scapegoat them to hide other problems' We will now look in to that. Elvis Presley was a victim of moral panics in the 1950’s before the focused turned to gangster rap. The moral panic was about his combination of hillbilly music, gospel singing and black rhythm and blues. `Moral crusaders burned him as just another bad influence out to corrupt the new generation´. Even when he was shown on television, they were not allowed to film anything from the crotch down because his moves was seen as rebellious and sexual. Tupac was seen as the first main stream rapper and was extremely popular with both African Americans and white rich kids. Therefore he was an easy target to scapegoat for the problem of poor African American youth and when he died it was seen as self-destruction. 2 Live Crew gave out an album named `As nasty as they wanna be´ in 1989, and it became a 2x Platinum record and their largest selling album. In 1990 a Florida court banned the album for sale because it was legally obscene, but later it was overturned by the Supreme Court. `As nasty as they wanna be´ was the first album I history to be deemed legally obscene. Why was this album banned' Some could see it as powerful people feeling like they have lost control and therefore need to make a drastic decision. The language could have offended some people, but did this album and do other albums and songs really promote violence, sex and homophobic' `Each society processes a set of ideas about what causes deviation – is it due, say, to sickness or to willful perversity' – and a set of images of who constitutes the typical deviant – is he an innocent lad being led astray, or is he a psychopathic thug' – and these conceptions shape what is done about the behavior.´ (Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics, Page 16; Line 13). `They say music can alter moods and talk to you, but can it load a gun for you and cock it too'´ Eminem – Sing for the Moment (The Eminem show, 2002). As Eminem states, even though music can change your mood, does that make you violent' Songs containing violence may make you mad but it does not force you shoot somebody, that would be your own decision. The same comes to mods and rockers, which were two conflicting youth subcultures in the 1960’s. When they started fighting in the 1964 it sparked a moral panic about British teenagers. All because it was extremely over dramatized scene between the two youth subcultures. `That is, it arrives already processed by the mass media and this means that the information has been subject to alternative definitions of what constitutes `news´ and how it should be gathered and presented.´ Back then it was mods wearing nice jackets or suits riding on scooters and rockers wearing black leatherjackets. Now it is Gangsters, wearing big clothes and saying and doing things no one else dears to do. The moral panic about gangster rap was encouraged by republicans in the USA, the democrats also played a part by launching a champagne against music with explicit lyrics. The result of this launch was a warning label that we still can see on cd’s today. `Studies have been conducted to assess the effects of listening to rap music on teenagers and young adults. Findings thus far are mixed, but overall they suggest that listening to rap music does not cause aggressive or deviant behavior.´ I believe that violence is something you choose to perform yourself, even though music can make you feel sad, mad or other feelings it does not force you to hit someone. I listen to gangster rap but I still know that hitting or even killing someone is wrong and is something I would never do. The moral panic about gangster rap among many other genres of music and other entertainment is, from my point of view, an exaggerated meaning produced by media and themselves. ´ We can’t edit out the art that makes us uncomfortable´ (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences President, Michael Greene). I absolutely agree with his statement, music may make you uncomfortable, but if we were to edit out all the things in life that made us uncomfortable I believe there would be little left in this world. Everybody has different meanings and feelings about what makes them uncomfortable and it would be extremely difficult to bow out for every single one of those feelings and thoughts. There will always be moral panics, whether it is about gangster rap or the next technology invented, it will always be there. ` More moral panics will be generated and other, as yet nameless, folk devils will be created. This is not because such developments have an inexorable inner logic, but because our society as present structures will continue to generate problems for some of its members – like working-class adolescents – and then condemn whatever solution these groups find.´ (Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics, Page 204, Line 21). Links: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/mtw9403.html, Matthew Wood, April 1997 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_panic, 12 January 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mods_and_Rockers, 22 January 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangsta_rap, 2 February 2010 http://www.cas.sc.edu/socy/faculty/deflem/zzcens97.htm, Deflem, Mathieu. 1993. http://cognitive-psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/rap_musics_psychological_effects, Jennifer Copley, May 8 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch'v=C_-ZQyDVEY4, December 2008 Folk Devils and Moral Panics, Stanley Cohen, 1972 General knowledge Other peoples point of view Music Lyrics -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. http://www.youtube.com/watch'v=C_-ZQyDVEY4 [ 2 ]. http://cognitive-psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/rap_musics_psychological_effects