Violence and music

This is very insightful... however, I guess what really influences ones reaction is not so much about the message in lyrics but whether the tone is aggressive or light... Muddy Waters sounds different than Snoop Dogg because it's mellow and moody, but maybe for the generation of Muddy's fans...

What do you think of American soldiers playing the song, "Fire Water Burn" by the Bloodhoundgang.... the lyrics are at this link (too profane to paste here):

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bloodhoundgang/firewaterburn.html

The presentation of the music today is what I feel makes it much more influential. It's no longer just the sound that's involved; the visual presentation creates the hype and most of that is degrading. There's a lot of good rap sounds that offer insight into the cries of a community. Music is a major means of communication and has been influencing this generation no different than those before...Break down the sounds of the music for each generation and you can see the correlation for the era it reflects...

The music today is much more influential to the kids because it's visual and the visual pretty much is degrading, sexually orientated and glorifies street life.. *I know there's good music as well,so don't get me wrong...but if you look at each generation and correlate the popular sounds for the time you can see the reflection of the era that it represented.....How someone reads Muddy's sounds today "may" have been pretty different for the era it played? There was a song I use to like to dance to.. "18 and a bullet"...sure takes on a whole different effect now...

Gangs at Work...

Gangs Turn To Social Networking Sites To Recruit

CBS 5 CrimeWatch
Reporting
Joe Vazquez
(CBS 5) Young people who visit social networking sites to download music and pictures glorifying criminal street gangs can unwittingly set themselves up to be recruited by those gangs, according to law enforcement officials and youth counselors.

San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer, who speaks for the San Mateo County gang task force, said gang leaders are aware that kids like to socialize on sites such as MySpace and YouTube.

"We're seeing our gangs and the resurgence of some of the gang members coming back from prison looking more and more to those middle schoolers and the younger kids to recruit them," said Manheimer.

Manheimer said kids get into discussions in the comments sections of web sites, and engage in everything from vicious threats to what seems to be innocuous chit-chat.

"The type of profiling they're doing of themselves makes them prey to predators and also at odds with and challenging other gangs," said Manheimer. "So, we'll see something start on the Internet, and actually turn into an assault or a gang fight that actually results out of Internet profiling."

CBS 5 visited a movie theater in downtown Redwood City on a Friday night and found kids as young as 12 years old with gang insignia downloaded onto their phones. Some had downloaded rap songs glorifying the Norteños.

"'Til my death I'll hold my rag up high. I'll be a Norteño 'til the day I die," went the lyrics to one such song.

One 13-year old boy told CBS 5 the people who put up the pages with gang images sometimes strike up conversations with him.

"They just talk normal, like – 'What you doing? What you been up to?'" he said. "They don't pressure me, though."

Youth counselor Alejandro Vilchez says keeping kids out of gangs in real life now means teaching them to avoid becoming targets of propaganda in the virtual world.

"It's really no different than the way Hitler recruited Hitler youth with the pageantry and the uniforms and the messages of unity and sacrifice and honor," said Vilchez. "It's the same messages that you seen on these gang websites."

Vilchez advises parents to keep computers in common rooms and closely monitor websites and cell phones. And, he says parents should educate themselves about the colors and signs of the local gangs.

A YouTube spokesperson who asked to remain anonymous e-mailed CBS 5 the following statement: "YouTube does not allow videos showing dangerous or illegal acts which is clearly stated in the community guidelines on the site."

"Also, real violence on you tube is not allowed," the statement continued. "If a video shows someone getting hurt, attacked or humiliated it will be removed."

The spokesperson said YouTube does not control content, and that they rely on users to police the site and flag inappropriate material.

Youtube staff later reviews the material and removes content found to violate the community guidelines.

"Our community polices the site and this has proven very effective," the YouTube spokesperson wrote.

Local Boy...good information and appreciated! Although I know there are sites which recruit, i.e., Skin heads and such I really didn't look at the "whole picture". Open forums create a playground for the mind set of a predator & a predator comes in all arenas...I took a look at MY space and a few other sites & although not shocked was rudely awakened...
The other night I was off of Ivy, just north of Huntington Drive..around 7 pm. Two guys were standing on a corner, hooded;first thought was what was their business especially in lite of what has been going on...then I continued to my destination. Point being, how do you make a decision if a situation is innocent or a paranoid reaction!

Always err on the side of safety, accelerate and move on.

Local Boy