Typically, I am not one to place at the feet of pop culture all the ills of our society, but I must admit that as I watched, completely mesmerized by Rihanna鈥檚 performance, the NBA All-Star half-time show, I lamented the near-fall of Western civilization. I know how comforting it is to abdicate personal responsibility and blame pop culture for all our troubles, but as I watched Rihanna I felt sorry for young, impressionable boys and girls who see her as a role model. As an educator, I see her influence daily in the young girls who easily and happily imitate her and the young boys who desire her鈥攁nd there she was on stage shaking her body for all the world to ogle.
When Kanye West appeared on stage, I must admit the only thought going through my head was a prayer that his pants would be situated correctly on his waist. They were not, and I was forced to think about another day of battles that I would wage with wayward teenage boys who mimic hip-hop culture鈥檚 fascination with prison life. As many know, the baggy-pants culture鈥攂oys wearing pants so low that their underwear shows鈥攐riginated in prison, as prisoners were stripped of the belts and shoelaces often used in suicide attempts and as weapons. The result, of course, is that gravity won, and pants fell below the waistline and exposed undergarments. For the past 15 years, the style has had staying power鈥攕o much so, that the high school teenagers who follow it now weren鈥檛 even born when the trend started. So, they imitate a style that they neither know nor understand鈥攐r, if they do, it is even sadder to think of them emulating a culture that originated in prison, a place created to take away their freedom. Is it ironic, then, that the teenagers who look to articulate their artistic freedom and to express their individuality ape a culture that signifies imprisonment? In some way, that would be like my wearing shackles and fetters as jewelry.
I don鈥檛 expect to win this war anytime soon, but that doesn鈥檛 mean I won鈥檛 speak out against a practice that I fear is detrimental to our students鈥� health. Wearing saggy pants sends a message that a student wants to be something he probably is not: a gangster. And when you send that message, you invite unwelcome attention, expectations, and responses. A thoughtful friend who ignores pop culture by not watching television opined: 鈥淚dols of pop culture are not real people. They are victims and creations of their own and other people鈥檚 greed and just as fantastical as characters in a Grimm fairy tale (or maybe worse, as they are more sinister, more bizarre, and scarier).鈥� These pop icons, as she pointed out, are not to be believed or emulated, for they are figments of active (and greedy) imaginations.
Wearing saggy pants sends a message that a student wants to be something he probably is not: a gangster. And when you send that message, you invite unwelcome attention."
Now, I鈥檓 not a prig, as my iPod will attest, but as I see how strongly pop culture works on my students, I cringe. Rock 鈥檔鈥� roll and hip hop have always caused a stir and purposely pushed the envelope鈥攆rom Elvis Presley鈥檚 appearance on 鈥淭he Ed Sullivan Show,鈥� to Jim Morrison鈥檚 arrest for alleged indecent exposure at a Florida concert, to Marvin Gaye鈥檚 crooning, 鈥淟et鈥檚 Get It On,鈥� to Prince鈥檚 seductive gyrations on stage, to 2 Live Crew鈥檚 raunchy lyrics鈥攂ut there was often something political or substantive in the music. Even Madonna, the artistic mother of Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Rihanna, and other 鈥渟elf-empowered鈥� women of today, sought to tackle important issues such as teenage pregnancy (鈥淧apa Don鈥檛 Preach鈥�), racism (鈥淟ike a Prayer鈥�), and materialism (鈥淢aterial Girl鈥� is a sendup of Marilyn Monroe and that empty culture).
As much as Madonna pushed standards of taste, she was also shaping culture in important ways. She promoted and reinvented self for personal gain, but also to inspire change in our culture for the good. Today鈥檚 artists promote and reinvent self simply to serve and promote self. It鈥檚 an incredibly empty, selfish, yet mesmerizing and captivating reason for creating art.
Would that it were so easy to keep children from desiring to be Rihanna, a strikingly beautiful and surprisingly talented young woman with the world seemingly wrapped around her finger, or Kanye West, a wildly gifted and breathtakingly wealthy young man with millions seemingly poised to listen to his every word.
So, as an educator, I work daily, like the stonecutter in Jacob Riis鈥� quotation: 鈥淲hen nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.鈥� We need to continue to hammer away at this culture, hoping to give our children examples of integrity, intelligence, kindness, and compassion.
