[BleedBurgundy]

Originally Posted by warriorzpath

Selling positive messages does not work - it does not work in the TV, Film, Sports, and Internet media industries. How will it work for hip hop? And we cannot control hip hop artists or anyone else, only ourselves. We can have an influence, depending on relationships and our political and economic power, on someone else, but not we cannot control them.

I'm going to draw a parallel that is more than a bit of a stretch. 30 years ago, everyone knew smoking was bad for you. But they didn't know how bad. Then when they learned how bad, they still didn't stop because they were addicted. It was a habit that was literally ingrained in our culture. Over the past decade or so the country has had the "right" choice literally forced on them. No smoking in bars, businesses or buses for that matter. People bitched and moaned (still are) every step of the way but in the end, we're all better for it. This is not all that different if you think about it. The problem is wide spread, the issue is intertwined with the culture and the end result is deadly. You know, in Germany, it is illegal to say anything positive about Nazism or Hitler. Why? Because the country wants to try to keep from going back to that dark place. They made the decision that for the good of all they would infringe on the free speech of a few. That can be a slippery slope but in some cases it is obviously necessary. I think we are approaching that point. Maybe in addition to community action, education and responsible consumerism, there needs to be legislation that makes it illegal to profit off of any kind of "hate." It would be a hugely controversial issue but eventually it MAY be the only way. I don't know.