Rihanna: tempest in a teapot

So some parents are apparently in a flap over Rihanna's latest video, "Man Down." It's about a young woman who is raped and murders her rapist (and in the song lyrics even expresses remorse for the killing.) The murder is graphic.



While um yes I would encourage young persons to go to the police if they are assaulted, rather than to kill themselves and therefore bring more negative consequences into their own lives--I didn't even have to say that did I?--here are my two other thoughts:

1. The violence is no worse than the average cop show. And since no one watches video shows anymore, if your kid is watching this video it's on the internet, and this is hardly the worst thing she has access to on the internet (not to mention it's at least within a moral context.)

2. Aerosmith's video and song "Janie's Got a Gun" in the 1990s was just as graphic, and the teen girl kills her father for molesting her. I don't remember any controversy over it, I don't see anything on wikipedia. Either we care less about rape than incest, or the parental groups have gotten more anal, or it's just the shot to the head they don't like, or it's less threatening when a man sings about it than a beautiful young black woman. I don't know.



Conclusion: Parental groups, there are better things you could be doing with your time. Like anti-bullying campaigns. SERiously.