Wednesday, February 14, 2001
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Wednesday, February 14, 2001 |
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Parents ... got the guts to go for what's right? By REV JOHN HATCHER It's refreshing to read someone in the mainstream media make sense. For example, Leonard Pitts, columnist for the Miami Herald, last year wrote a piece (August 17, 2000 AJC) in which he characterized pop culture as a "sewer." He wrote: "As a former full-time critic of pop music, I understand the apprehension (of condemning the contemporary music scene). I also understand that something's wrong when people are too fearful of history's judgment to voice honest misgivings. "Understand: The issue is not freedom of speech. Pop culture has an absolute constitutional right to swim in the toilet...but here's the question: What happens when no one has the guts to draw the line anywhere? "We're finding the answer now and it's not pretty. We've become a people too cool to take offense, too jaded for questions of decency, and so filled with attitude that we disconnect from our own feelings, our own barometers of right and wrong. We took the wrong lessons from Elvis' hips. And we're getting the pop culture we deserve." My generation's barometers are fairly accurate. After all, we were brought up when certain behavior was moral and certain behavior immoral. The "pill" had not come along when we learned right from wrong. Additionally, many of us older baby-boomers were raised either in Sunday School or went to catechism classes preparing for first communion. We learned God's way and the devil's way. What's more, most of us older boomers were raised on moral television. Even the masked man was a good guy. Beaver and Opie, Fury and Rin Tin Tin taught us the values that made America the greatest nation on earth. We know right from wrong. We know how short is too short. We know pants hanging halfway off the butt are inappropriate. We know condoms present in our children's pockets mean sheer immorality. We know there's no good illegal drugs. We not only know these truths, we also deeply believe them. But, we keep on failing to respond to our own spiritual, value-minding barometric readings. Why? Because just maybe we're not right on! That's the line sold us by the world. So, it takes a secular journalist to call our attention to the fact that our kids are listening to sewage symphonies, toilet tunes, and lewd lyrics. No question about it. Pitts observed, "From the potty-mouthed tykes of 'South Park' to the hateful gay-bashing of rapper Eminem to the lewd butt-worshipping of the music video channel, it's become nearly impossible to absorb popular culture without also absorbing slop that would embarrass a reasonably respectable pig." Now, parents face Spring Break. It's the Spring ritual for hormonal-racing kids to do what comes naturally as well as it comes naturally for dogs, hogs, and cows. There is nothing redemptive about Spring Break, my barometer tells me! Absolutely nothing. Except, of course, for the beer folks, drug folks, and condom folks -- folks in business to bring down our kids to animal level. What's your barometer say? Got the guts to tell your kids, "Not while you eat at my table!" How about the guts to listen to your child's music and say, "Not in my house and not in the car for which I provide the payment and insurance." Go for what's right!
Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community Church in Fayetteville. |
