22nd March 2006, 9:40 PM
Not with rap they aren't... rap is definitely dumb, to say the least.
Comparing gangsta rap to videogames... interesting one, but I think that rap has a bigger and more defintitely negative impact. Though it is true that if you say 'videogames don't make people violent' it becomes harder to say 'but music does'... the problem is that gangsta rap isn't just music, it's a whole culture. Games like GTA do not have a culture of violence around them encouraging real-world actions like those in the media they reference (music, games, whatever). And that's a significant, and very troubling, difference... stuff like gangsta rap is a horrible influence on urban society. So much encouragement of so many messages that are so bad... GTA's nothing in comparison... GTA is only a problem for someone who has problems already (like Doom -- Doom doesn't make people kill people. People who kill people after playing Doom were already going to be more violent.)... given the whole culture around it, I wouldn't say the same thing for rap.
Comparing gangsta rap to videogames... interesting one, but I think that rap has a bigger and more defintitely negative impact. Though it is true that if you say 'videogames don't make people violent' it becomes harder to say 'but music does'... the problem is that gangsta rap isn't just music, it's a whole culture. Games like GTA do not have a culture of violence around them encouraging real-world actions like those in the media they reference (music, games, whatever). And that's a significant, and very troubling, difference... stuff like gangsta rap is a horrible influence on urban society. So much encouragement of so many messages that are so bad... GTA's nothing in comparison... GTA is only a problem for someone who has problems already (like Doom -- Doom doesn't make people kill people. People who kill people after playing Doom were already going to be more violent.)... given the whole culture around it, I wouldn't say the same thing for rap.
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