An Essay On Bias From High School.

Oh no! Look over there! It’s a rock band, they must be singing of suicide and murder! And the heavy metal band must be preaching about the devil! Well, even thought many rock and metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, Twisted Sister, Venom, Judas Priest, Decide, Entombed, Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, and Anthrax are said to ‘worship’ the devil and have Satanic lyrics, only two of the bands listed above (Decide and Entombed) “claimed to express or promote “real” Satanism through their lyrics and real life” (Paradise) as where the other bands just used satanic lyrics to gain much needed publicity and money.

Unfortunately, some bands and artist were being blamed for causing teens to murder others and to commit suicide. The band Judas Priest was blamed for making and eighteen years old and a twenty year old to commit suicide. The court said that there was a “toxic influence” from the music they listened to, but that it cannot be blamed for ones actions. The bands Slipknot, Anthrax, Ozzy Osbourne (from Black Sabbath), Alice Cooper, and Marilyn Manson where being blamed for making two men murder a 16 year old boy. It’s said that one of the alleged murderers, Daniel, 28, listened to these bands. A witness also claimed that he was a heavy drinker, had his room decorated with skeletons, and had an upside down cross tattooed on one of his arms, which is said to represent the Antichrist and Satanism.

So, I bet now that you are thinking that all rock and metal musicians are bad people. Well, there are good people too! For example, Alice Cooper, a rocker that was known for singing songs called “Dead Babies”, “No More Mr. Nice Guy”, “Welcome to my Nightmare”, and for onstage beheadings, is opening a Christian youth center. In this center there is going to be a school of rock and roll, a concert hall, and sporting events. Everything that takes place at this youth center will be free for teens for the ages of 12- 18 and will all be Christian oriented. The band Motley Crue made a CD called “Shout to the Devil”. The lyrics to the songs on this CD showed rebelliousness toward Satan, giving off the idea that Satan is bad.

Marilyn Manson, yes, we all know that he was being blamed for the shooting at Columbine high school in April 1999 and the shooting at VT College in April 2007. “But why?” you may ask. Some thinks it’s because he’s an easy target because of his said ‘Satanic’ lyrics. When in matter of fact, Seung-Hui Cho (the instigator of the shooting at VT), Erick Harris, and Dylan Klebold (the instigators of the shooting at Columbine) didn’t actually listen to Marilyn Manson. Though there is no proof that Cho didn’t listen to Marilyn Manson, there is none saying that he did either. As for Klebold and Harris they “hate Marilyn Manson” (Cullen) and Harris liked “Good, Fast, Hard, Strong, Pounding Techno” (Cullen). So, even though many people may think that Marilyn Manson is bad and capable of being a big enough of an influence to make people murderers, many can see what an insane realization that truly is.

Upon the school shootings, Manson was interviewed a countless amount of times. In a radio interview that took place a few days after the VT massacre, Manson said, “Then suddenly Columbine happened and my name got brought up into it and I wouldn’t be surprised if my name got brought into this[VT collage shooting]” (Manson Fears), and it was. During another interview he had with Michael Moore, the creator of many documentaries such as Bowling for Columbine and Roger & me, Manson was asked what he would have said to the Killers of Columbine High School, Harris and Klebold, if he would have gotten a chance. Manson’s answer was one of the most inspiring things that I have ever heard from any one; he said “I wouldn’t have said one thing. I would have listened to them, which is what no one else did” (Bowling for Columbine, 2002). He also said that music is an escape for kids, but unfortunately, the PMRC didn’t see that.

The PMRC, or Parents Music Resource Center, was stated by Tipper Gore (Al Gore’s wife) and three other women. Their goal was to warn parents of the music that their kids were listening to, so they decided that it would be a good idea to use their own opinion to tell people what’s good and what’s bad. And of course, the musicians didn’t appreciate this at all. So they rebelled, many bands criticized and parodied Tipper Gore and the PMRC. Since this affected a large majority of bands and artists from all genres; it up raised a big commotion. As an early parody Metallica put a PMRC “explicit lyric” sticker in the shape of a stop sign on their front cover of their album Master of Puppets the. The band Alice Donut made a song called “Tipper Gore” that used a sexual metaphor to describe Tipper Gore’s actions. Sonic Youth’s album, Goo, featured “a cartoon with a caption “SMASH THE PMRC”” (Parent Music Resource Center). Ministry’s album In Case You Didn’t Feel like Showing Up had “a cut out version of the parental advisory sticker. On the inside they urged you to cut it out and send it to the PMRC” (Parent Music Recourse Center). On the cover of the Twisted Sister Cd, Come out and Play, the band put a parental advisory sticker that said H for Humor as a parody toward the PMRC explicit lyric stickers. In a one minute song “Ode to Tipper Gore”, the band Warrant, “featured nothing but various swear words recorder in rapid-fire order” (Parent Music Resource Center) that they said during concerts and in songs. NoFX named their album The PMRC can suck on this to show how they felt about them. The band Rage Against The Machine did one of the most astonishing tings out of all of the bands and artists that rebelled against the PMRC. During Lollapalooza they spent all of their playing time (14 minutes) standing naked on stage, they had duck tape over their mouths and the letters PMRC painted on their chests. Later, the band played a free show for all of their disappointed fans. Tipper even went as far as trying to turn people against a band by making false accusations about the meaning of their name. She told the public that the band WASP, who originally wore black and yellow striped outfits while playing, stood for “We Are Sexual Perverts” (Parent Music Resource Center). Some other bands (with their song) that ‘rebelled’ against Tipper and the PMRC were: “Rock you to Hell” by Grim Reaper, “Hook in the Mouth” by Megadeth, “The Wild and the Young” by Quiet Riot, “Lovely” by Suicidal Tendencies, “Shelter Me” by Cinderella, “Hard on You” by Floatsam and Jetsam, “Hush” by Tool, “Censors**t” by The Ramones, “Starting up a Posse” by Anthrax, “F*** the PMRC” by Pistol Grip, “Stop the Insanity” by Leftover Crack, “Anarchy in the U.K” by Motley Crue, “MTV- Get off the Air” by Dead Kennedy, “Voldemont Can’t Stop Rock” by Harry and the Potters, “FINE” by Aerosmith, “KKK B****” and “Cop Killer” by The Dead Milkman, “P.M.R.C” by The Fool, “Porn Wars” by Frank Zappa, “Pray for the Juice Maker” by Fishbone, “Sucks” by KMFDM, “IFWHITEAMERICATOLDTHETRUTHFORONEDAYIT’SWORLDWOULDFALLAPART” and “Tennessee” by Manic Street Performers, “Burn down the malls” by Mojo Nixon, “Censor us” by Pinkard and Bowden, “Go Away” by Reset, “Jesse” by Todd Rundgren, “P.M.R.C” by The Bouncing Souls, and the song “Purgatory” which the German Metal band, Running Wild, dedicated to the PMRC.

So people think that rock and metal music is bad, and that people that listen to it are going to go crazy and start killing themselves and shooting people and getting all hyped up on drugs. Well, I, along with a lot of people in our school and even on my team, could be examples of how wrong this stereotype is. I mean sure, I do threaten people, but I never went out a started shooting things and blowing up random objects, even though blowing up random objects does sound fun.

One typical stereotype that I think is true is among a large majority of people that listen to rock and metal is how their appearance is. For example guys that listen to heave metal and rock re more likely to have long hair, wear a lot of black, and wear eyeliner and girls that listen to this type of music are more likely to have black hair and wear a lot of black. But this is just because of the fact that people have a tendency to dress and mimic the appearance of the people they ‘look up to’. So people that listen to rap are more likely to have a lot of ‘bling’ and grills and wear over sized pants and shirts, and people that look up to, let’s say the President are most likely going to dress rather professionally. But once again, not all people do.

So if you are going to go ahead and say that everyone that listens to Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister, Judas Priest and other Rock and Metal bands go out and constantly shoot people and then constantly want to kill themselves you are obviously wrong. But if you truly believe that, I suggest you find every one that listens to this type of music and start sending them to consolers, mental facilities, and Psyche Wards.

Bri The Table- Part Two.

Silly bri did not realize what happened and thought it was just a dream so she tried to go back to sleep.

She woke back up and realized she was home. frantic, she decided that she had to run back to the park to get the rest of her flowers. but she couldnt move. she tred to life her legs to walk, but realized she couldnt feel them. the she tried to move her hands, but didnt have those either. scard, she started tk scream for her mom and dad, but they couldnt hear her.

She looked around and realized that she was shorter than normally because she couldnt see above the counter anymore. after an hour of stuggeling to try to walk, she finially got the hang of it. she needed to walk by puttin her front left leg and back right leg forward, then her front right leg and front left leg forward. after getting the hang of it she ventured back to find rio in order to ask him to change her back.

Now of course, a table walking down the street would look very odd. she got scared because she was getting weird looks. she tried to tell people what happened, but no one could understand what she was saying.

After a long walk she was back in the park, she found the hole where the floweres were burried so she knew she was close to the woods.

After aimlessly walking around for a bit she found the tree where she fell aslee earlier. "hello?" she said "hello? is anyone there?". she started to freak out and scream "im sorry i fell asleep in your home, i was tired and didnt mean to! please change me back!" but still no rio.

Confused she just stayed there, and tiried to go back to sleep, but tables cant sleep. she sat there for hours untill a little frog came hoping along. he stoped in front of her and asked "did you fall asleep here?" she said yes and he explained what happened

Bri The Table- The Beginning.

This is a story about a girl, a girl named Bri, and she’s not really a girl, she’s table. But let’s rewind until before she was a table. Back when she was a girl still.

One day Bri was walking down the street, and she was a park. It was all open and green and inviting. So curious little Bri decided to go pick some flowers. She had red ones and blue ones and yellow ones and purple ones and orange ones too! She picked so many flowers that she couldn’t hold them all anymore. So she dug a little hole and put the ones she couldn’t carry there so that she could come back for them later.

She got back on the street and started to walk back home. On her way she was talking to a mail man! He was Bri’s next door neighbor. His name was Fred. Fred asked Bri if she wanted a ride home because he was almost done delivering all of the mail. Bri said yes and waiting in the mail truck for Fred to be done.

Fred dropped off Bri at her house and she eagerly ran into house to give her parents their flowers. She got a vase and filled it with some nice cold water and put the flowers on the table where her parents can see then she left to go get the rest of them.

When she got back to the park to get the rest of her flower, but got distracted by a butterfly. So she followed it into the woods to try to capture it. After hours of following the butterfly she realized it was getting dark, so she tried to find her way out. But couldn’t.

She walked all different ways and made circles. After a few hours she got really tired and laid down under a tree. When she woke up she saw a magical wizard named Rio. Rio was infuriated that Bri fell asleep in his forest. And yelled at her. But she didn’t care, and yelled back. And then Rio threw his hands up in the air and cast a spell on her. And BAM! She was a table.