(originally posted 5/18/02)

Tammy recently shared the disgust she felt when she read Eminem raps U.S. vice president's wife

She said, "This is the kind of thing that disgust me in America. This is the kind of thing that is going to destroy America. This is the kind of thing that I feel so powerless to do anything about. It just irks me to no end that I have to sit and hear about this crap and I can't shut him up!!!!!!!!!!! Free speech????? What about the ears that sometimes end up hearing that junk?! What about the teenagers who are so influenced by it because we can't control everything they do and they don't alwyas know the difference between right and wrong? I wish somebody would assassinate this guy. I wish the terrorists would have flown those airplanes into the MTV music awards---I would have celebrated. I'm not joking. I would not have considered Janet Jackson, Eminem, or any of those "watch me with my baggy pants hanging down to my knees and my sunglasses on and my bandana around my head, and my chain hanging out of my pocket and my 'cool' way of walking with my hands swaying from front to back as if I'm somethin' special" jackasses a loss!!!!!!!"

Wow! THAT is what I call a passionate response! I agree it's despicable to use such inflammatory rhetoric, especially when it is clearly used for such transparent, self-aggrandizement. Even more offensive to me is that he would target the wife of someone I hold in such high regard.

What I love (notice my sarcasm) is how extremists like this use the phrase "free speech" to defend what they do while dismissing any moral obligations they have as members of society to remember the influence they exert on other people. But don't you dare bring up that argument because you'll be accused of imposing your morals, religion, or standards on them and taking away their agency! The Constitution and the Bill of Rights be damned if we don't couple it with the moral responsibility we all have as recipients of the sacrifices of our ancestors!

I don't know if I'd go so far as to wish assasination or a terrorist plane crash on eminem or the MTV Music Awards but I certainly share your feelings (which I'm inferring you have) that many people place WAY to much importance on most celebrities as if we should aspire to be like them and if we fall short we are somehow inferior. So many people have their priorities mixed up. I don't believe it's the job of the government to fix these problems. I believe that's the role religion plays in the American equation and if you remove religion - whatever faith, as so many people are wont to do, good-bye USA.