AND THEN I WROTE

...that the past couple of weeks, local and statewide, newspapers have been introducing us to some of the “best and brightest” new high school graduates, most of whom are heading off to college.
With that recognition, however, there are also reminders that there is a bottom 20% to every group just as there is a top 20%. Bottom feeders sometimes get more print or air time and make more money than their more intelligent counterparts.
Why is that so? Because there is a tremendous appetite, among some young people in particular, for the outrageous. Young people who are way too smart to do certain things themselves relish seeing others do those things. Young people who are unhappy with their own life glory in seeing and hearing another in that category thumb his or her nose at parents, teachers and other authority figures, and get paid, sometimes well paid, for doing so.
I do not want to give the creep any more recognition than he has already gotten. He would like me to mention his name so I will not. But there is a new example of how low, gross and stupid someone can be. This sleaze ball has climbed out of a sewer to record an album. I was going to say of music, but it is “rap” and that’s not music. In its first week, the album broke all sales records!
What does that tell you about those who purchased the thing?
Have I heard it? No. And I don’t have to to know I would not enjoy it. I know that the same way I know that I would not enjoy the experience if I threw myself in front of a moving vehicle.
The “artist” is no kid. He’s 26. Someone should charge him with contributing to the delinquency of minors. The poison he is feeding young people is much worse than alcohol; even as bad as hard drugs, perhaps.
His messages feature sex and violence. His “character” murders his wife and takes their daughter along to watch him dispose of the body, a reviewer tells us. He says even his grandmother can’t stand him.
The foul-mouthed performer describes himself as “white trash.” Easily believable. He sounds like one of those we used to describe as a “smak,” that is, a smart-assed kid.
Proof of his mental acuity is the fact that a photo shows he is not even smart enough to know that the bill of a baseball cap should extend over the forehead, not over the back of a red neck.
One reviewer suggests that “no kid should have unrestricted access to what on the whole must surely be one of the most violent and disturbing albums ever released.” (If you want to read the whole review, contact me and I will tell you the reviewer’s name and publication. As I said, I don’t want everybody looking up things about this creep.)
Does your kid have the album? If so, I hope he or she is 15 years old or less and sophomoric in sophistication. I would like to think anyone older that that would have sufficient intelligence (like an IQ in three digits) to reject both the messages and the messenger. If your child bought it without your knowledge, I suggest a couple things. First, that child has too much discretionary spending freedom given his or her maturity level. And second, seek psychiatric care and pastoral counseling immediately. The “artist” is quoted as saying the album can make a 15-year-old kid who is being picked on throw his middle finger up and say... (expletive deleted.) Just as at Columbine, right?
There is some attempt at portraying this clown as a rebel who means well. But the trade publication Billboard, known for its acceptance of almost anything different, has characterized the release as “making money by exploiting misery.”
So, young people, don’t buy any excuses for the existence of the creature from the sewer (described elsewhere as disposable, like anything else that enters a sewer). And above all, don’t encourage him by buying his product. Just like sewage, you’ll get it all over you if you aren’t careful how you handle it!