I agree with you on this one Angry. Although the line between hate crime and legitimate artistic expression is a narrow one, in this case I think iTunes should’ve erred on the side of free speech. As has been shown many times, violent video games, movies, and music are often not the sole, nor even the primary, cause of violence in real life. Moreover, I’ve never understood why society assumes that the ‘I’ in hip-hop, and hip-hop derivatives like dancehall, represents the personal views of the emcee. No other art form is taken so literally. We can watch a movie or read a book about a racist character, but we treat it as a vehicle for exploring issues around race. But when we listen to a homophobic hip-hop song, we automatically assume it’s an attempt to incite violence against gay people. I think Eminem’s duet with Elton John demonstrated how ridiculous that assumption is.
I agree with you on this one Angry. Although the line between hate crime and legitimate artistic expression is a narrow one, in this case I think iTunes should’ve erred on the side of free speech. As has been shown many times, violent video games, movies, and music are often not the sole, nor even the primary, cause of violence in real life. Moreover, I’ve never understood why society assumes that the ‘I’ in hip-hop, and hip-hop derivatives like dancehall, represents the personal views of the emcee. No other art form is taken so literally. We can watch a movie or read a book about a racist character, but we treat it as a vehicle for exploring issues around race. But when we listen to a homophobic hip-hop song, we automatically assume it’s an attempt to incite violence against gay people. I think Eminem’s duet with Elton John demonstrated how ridiculous that assumption is.
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