Thou shalt not kill...
Exodus 20:13
Country singers these days, especially some of the women, seem to be having trouble understanding their responsibility as role models in our celebrity culture. Little girls and young women look up to their favorite celebrities, particularly singers. As a teacher of high school kids, I constantly hear about this singer or that - their music, their antics, and their core message.
Miranda Lambert, wife of Blake Shelton of The Voice fame, loves to portray a "bad girl" persona in her music, as witnessed in her Fastest Girl in Town single. In the song, White Liar, she castigates a boyfriend who lies about his affairs - then ends the tune by revealing that she has also been lying - and cheating.
On her hit album, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Lambert's song about an abusive boyfriend, Gunpowder and Lead, has her "going home to load my shotgun, wait by the door and light a cigarette. He wants a fight, well now he's got one..." The clear inference here is that if the abuser comes through the door, she will shoot him - all in self-defense, of course. The video for her hit song, Kerosene, shows her dropping a trail of kerosene from her boyfriend's house clear through town. Apparently the boyfriend is in bed with another, and she is going to light the kerosene trail and blow the two cheaters into the hereafter.
What kind of messages are these artists sending to their young fans: Playing fast and loose, lying, cheating and revenge are acceptable ways to live life and take care of problems? These artists may not want to think about the influence their music and videos have on the young people who watch them, but the parents of those kids sure need to be wary. Country music used to be some of the cleanest music around, but those days appear to be coming to an end.
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