Spring Break
Increasingly rash media opinions offend some individuals' tastes
Linda Shaw
Issue date: 11/13/09 Section: Commentary
These days, increasingly more media critics have been forming rash opinions on current artists. Currently, the opinions from art critics that deem some art as "good" or "bad" have been increasingly unprofessional. Though I do not object to censorship of materials that provoke offensive behavior, people should not suppress art expression by randomly and rashly deeming some works to be "bad" art.
In light of a recent occurrence, I heard news from several radio channels (including NPR) that listening to some music can make people "stupid." I was doubtful that listening to classical music could make one intelligent or Lil' Wayne rap music could make someone stupid. I researched and found that this source of information was taken from a mere observational data study that did not conclude any such theory. It was a study done by a single person named Virgil Griffith, who charted SAT scores in comparison to musical tastes of college students, entitled "Your Taste in Music Can Reveal How Smart (or Dumb) You Are." Lil' Wayne was correlated with the lowest SAT scores, whereas Beethoven reflected the highest SAT scorers.
True, people who listen to Lil' Wayne may be interested in rap and may not be interested in the SAT, but it doesn't mean listening to Lil Wayne makes one stupid. There is no causality study done on the music a person listens to, and how smart or stupid one can become. The study shows a correlation. There is a lot of ethical consideration, historical origin, environmental, and cultural controls that are not controlled in the study or weighed into consideration. Such a carelessly formed notion and the subsequent propagation by several radio channels that some music causes "stupidity," is a type of discrimination against art.
Critique of an artwork, which is unhinged and unsupported, is an attack on freedom of expression. Though in the case of Lil' Wayne, it is done in fun and jest, it singles out one type of art to be of "lesser" value than the other. It is wrong to foster a belief that art, which is meaningful to one person, is lesser. Art is about variety, and different people have different tastes.
In light of a recent occurrence, I heard news from several radio channels (including NPR) that listening to some music can make people "stupid." I was doubtful that listening to classical music could make one intelligent or Lil' Wayne rap music could make someone stupid. I researched and found that this source of information was taken from a mere observational data study that did not conclude any such theory. It was a study done by a single person named Virgil Griffith, who charted SAT scores in comparison to musical tastes of college students, entitled "Your Taste in Music Can Reveal How Smart (or Dumb) You Are." Lil' Wayne was correlated with the lowest SAT scores, whereas Beethoven reflected the highest SAT scorers.
True, people who listen to Lil' Wayne may be interested in rap and may not be interested in the SAT, but it doesn't mean listening to Lil Wayne makes one stupid. There is no causality study done on the music a person listens to, and how smart or stupid one can become. The study shows a correlation. There is a lot of ethical consideration, historical origin, environmental, and cultural controls that are not controlled in the study or weighed into consideration. Such a carelessly formed notion and the subsequent propagation by several radio channels that some music causes "stupidity," is a type of discrimination against art.
Critique of an artwork, which is unhinged and unsupported, is an attack on freedom of expression. Though in the case of Lil' Wayne, it is done in fun and jest, it singles out one type of art to be of "lesser" value than the other. It is wrong to foster a belief that art, which is meaningful to one person, is lesser. Art is about variety, and different people have different tastes.
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