From: cbbrowne@csi.uottawa.ca (Christopher Browne)
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian
Subject: Re: Is a certain type of music bad?
Date: 3 Oct 92 02:30:12 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, University of Ottawa

In article <1992Oct1.214852.11656@glv.uucp> zack@thunder (Zack) writes:
>In article <1OCT199214430876@phobos.ucc.umass.edu>  
>s9877751@phobos.ucc.umass.edu (s9877751) writes:
>
>> > 
>> > So please, answer the question that the person asked, but do it with logic,
>> > and WHY you think that any kind of music is permissible. Merely saying
>> > "people who think that there's something wrong with a certain kind of
>> > music are narrow-mind" is unhelpful and expresses lazy thinking.  
>> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >john r la plante                    graduate student, Ohio State University
>> >jrl+@osu.edu                        political analysis done while you wait
>> > 
>> 
>> Oh, please.  Lazy thinking--gimme a break.  Listen, being narrow-minded
>> is extremely bad.
material omitted...

What we're hitting here is a situation of differing assumptions.

There are people who assume that certain types of music are wrong.  They
assume it's true.  You don't have to argue FOR it, because it's true.

Similarly, there are people who assume the opposite.  They too assume
that their assumption is true.  You don't have to argue FOR it,
because it's true.

The question now comes: If someone from one camp talks to someone in
the other camp, who has the onus of "proving" their position?

Is it the person "attacking," or is it the "defender?"  Or do you
assume, as defender, that since your side is (of course) right that it
needs no logical defense?

It is a good idea to head back to the original question.  From what I
can tell, the person that asked didn't have any PARTICULAR axe to
grind.  They weren't trying to draw out a conflict, but to get a
REASONABLE answer to the question.

My "REASONABLE" answer is that I can't think of any absolute/objective
criteria under which different types of music can be absolutely
classified as morally good/bad.

But that's if I only consider classifications that are purely musical
in nature.  Other considerations can (and will) come in.  There's
PILES of music that I would not recommend to people.

Two MAJOR reasons:
a) Styles that I don't enjoy.  Nothing particularly moral here!  There
ARE "different strokes for different folks" - you don't HAVE to like
the same sorts of music that I like.  (Spiritualizing a little:  If
Jesus wanted all Christians to be alike, He would have chosen
disciples that were all basically identical.  But He didn't.  They
were all QUITE different.)

b) Something outside the music that "spoils" it for me.
I don't particularly like Michael Jackson's music, but what winds up
being MORE significant to me is the "weird stuff" associated with him,
his videos (which are STRONGLY associated with the music), and things
I hear about his personal life.  I (strangely by happenstance)
happened to see the infamous Black/White video that got pulled, just
before the uproar about the sexual content.  I was NOT impressed; I
wasn't planning on getting the album before I saw the video; the
likelihood went down a few significance levels after seeing the video.

I'm not thrilled with the idea of filling myself with things that are
associated with immorality.  Madonna albums would certainly fall into
that category.

However, there's a difference to me between associating immorality
with an artist or a particular album, and associating immorality with
a particular style or genre of music.  I think that tries to
generalize relationships with immorality a little too much.  It smacks
of Phariseeism (?sp) or (dare I use the "l" word?) legalism.

People try to create a Law that defines morality in some "simple" way.
Unfortunately, this takes peoples' eyes off of the fulfilment of the
Law in Christ.

-- 
Christopher Browne
cbbrowne@csi.uottawa.ca
University of Ottawa
Master of System Science Program
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian