The Hollywood Liberal

By: Jennifer Lynne Ziemann

Tentatively scheduled to begin on Sept 25th, Congress will be holding a hearing titled From Imus to Industry: The Business of Stereotypes and Degradation. They will focus on the entertainment industry, which is interpreted to mean hip-hop’s misogynist lyrics and violent views. Chairman of the House sub-committee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill), will be spearheading the issue. He says the hip-hop culture is not the only industry they will be discussing. Well, if that is the case, I suggest they turn the spotlight on Congress.

You cannot stop the degradation of women when we live in a nation that believes women are of a lower caste. I have mentioned this time and time again: if a man commits an assault on a stranger it is considered a felony charge, if the assault is committed by him upon his significant other then it is a misdemeanor charge. Law after law, state after state this is the case. Congress must set the precedence that mandates that domestic violence is to be considered a felony, no matter if it is the first time the abuser is caught or the fourth time. Until this is done they have no right to attack any industry that is just following the misogynist standards that were set when this country was founded.

Furthermore, I believe we voted our new Congress in to bring home our troops, end the war, focus on peace-building initiatives, and direct our tax money to better help those in need at home such as the poor, and especially our women and children. We do not need some half-ass hearing about what type of music our citizens should be listening to.

As citizens of the United States of America we can always turn off our radio or televisions if we do not like what we are hearing. Unfortunately you cannot turn off the woman’s screams next door as her husband beats her, you cannot silence the homeless person’s cry for food, and you most certainly cannot halt the bloodshed of our soldiers a continent away

We elected our Congress to do these things.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 8:32 pm and is filed under Jennifer Ziemann's Blog, Main Blog (All Posts). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.