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He’s still a rapper?

The 39-year-old rap performer was arrested Thursday night at the couple’s Wellington home in South Florida. Police said his wife called 911, saying he had kicked and hit her during an argument over buying a bedroom set. She later told deputies he had only pushed her.

Again, as seen in some other posts I’ve made (of which I’m too lazy to find) about the media’s tendency to ensure rap is associated with as much negativity as possible, Vanilla Ice who has one successful rap song (which in actual hip hop circles is still debatable — like calling the Super Bowl shuffle rap) is identified as a rap performer in a story about domestic abuse.  It’s sad really.  Vanilla Ice, 18 years removed from a successful rap song and attempts at everything under the sun from heavy metal and acting to reality star(used oh so loosely) and current bull riding contestant on some celebrity (again used oh so loosely) CMT affair, is still considered a rapper. IT would be different if he at least had a current album that someone outside of his immediate family purchased but his current moneymaker is bull-riding on CMT.  So REALLY, the story should say ‘The 39-year-old bullrider. .  . .’.  Alas, that will not happen.  Since Brokeback Mountain’, cowboys have been really sensitive about their image….

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Digital Irony

A study of World of Warcraft players aged 12 - 83 has found that after some violent gaming, the players were actually more relaxed or tired than aggressive. 

“There were actually higher levels of relaxation before and after playing the game as opposed to experiencing anger but this did very much depend on personality type,” said Jane Barnett, who headed the Middlesex study. Translation: If you’re an aggressive jackass before you play a video game, you’ll still be one after; and video games don’t magically turn peaceful people into violent offenders.

Hopefully, more studies like this one will make it to the mainstream media so every violent outburst doesn’t fall at the feet of gaming.   I dare wager that the same could be proven of music and other forms of media.  Though, these forms of media do effect us, the foundation for violence toward others is built on something more than an album, video game, or shoot ‘em up movie. 

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