This is the problem with society today, every little thing is scrutinized and brought to the news only because one or two parents (yes, parents) decide that it is offensive to the entire world. How about you back off for four milliseconds and realize that everything in the world is not offensive, and although we do not know everything about the brain, I can assure you that limiting everything in our world is just as dangerous and limiting nothing.
I write this, in which I normally try to avoid the public realm of politics and pop culture critiques, in regards to Ke$ha, my new pop icon and I am not ashamed to say it. Sure she is autotuned and ¨trash¨ or whatever you want to call her, however, she is a brilliant lyricist who can make you dance while giving you a message. For We R Who We R, her newest entry into pop music dominance, it gives people confidence to not be ashamed of who they are and to embrace themselves while just dancing... more so like they are dumb dumb duh duh duh dumb.
But to continue as to why I am posting this, it is in regards to the title song on her upcoming album Cannibal, which more or less speaks about being a maneater. Now this all sounds grotesque talking about eating flesh and so forth. The lyrics in question by one website is:
"Whenever you tell me I'm pretty/That's when the hunger really hits me/Your little heart goes pitter patter/I want your liver on a platter/Use your finger to stir my tea/And for dessert I'll suck your teeth/Be too sweet and you'll be a goner/Yeah, I'll pull a Jeffrey Dahmer"
The bold part is the controversial one, because one should not reference Jeffrey Dahmer in a song because he was a grotesquely horrific serial killer. Now, since Ke$ha included this in her song, children are going to grow up and be serial killers because it is the cool thing to do and Ke$ha said so. First off, if this was the case, I am pretty sure kids would be murdering everyone with the amount of blood and gore in video games, but I digress.
First off, how about we do not take everything literally? Perhaps I go too liberal on the idea of freedom of speech, but hey, I really do not care. It is metaphors, and if you cannot understand metaphors, then I really have no idea what to tell you. If you truly believe that Ke$ha also wants "your liver on a platter," then really there is no help for you. Artists take controversial things because now you pay attention to them because the world is too hung up on sports and Jersey Shore reruns that the truly intelligent observers are going unnoticed.
Authors, musicians, photographers, artists, etc. are all being minimized to nothingness. Yet they speak of the culture that we are in. Shakespeare and Beethoven are integral parts of our education for a reason. Now I am not saying Ke$ha will be the next Bach that in 300 years people will be learning her in class, but I am also not saying she will not be. You can trash her all she wants but she is getting the attention and connecting to people. I mean, I do not want to generalize but I am pretty sure a lot of people can relate to her song Cannibal, where you take advantage of another person who likes you. I mean, Hall and Oates sang Maneater back in 1982. So this is nothing new, but since she referenced someone who was a serial killer, this is a problem? We play devil's advocate all the time, so I am encouraging satanism right? After all, I am advocating for the devil.
Not to mention, pretty sure regardless of how catchy the song is and how much I relate to the lyrics, if that be the case, I would not actually pull a Jeffrey Dahmer. We should realize that we are not that easily swayed by pop beats and regardless of how you cover it up, Dahmer was a monster. Pretty sure this one song, or thousands of songs like it, would not make people want to physically mimic his atrocities. And again, it is strictly a metaphorical reference.
People, back off of these artists. If you really find it offensive for your kids, I am sorry for them, but just do not play them the song. Wait until they grow up in a few years and you cannot save their ears from hearing gay bashing in the streets, racist remarks at their jobs and sexist slander from their husband or wife. I wonder how they will react to that, or will they just mindlessly conform into society like you did, and do everything that pop culture, news, and those around you say.
