Being away for a year has made me realize just how much I enjoy American culture.
Perhaps it's truly not American culture that I love, but its the fact that I know how it works.
I know how to say "hello", "please", "thank you". How the money system works, how to talk with people.
When you become integrated into 11 different cultures, your mind begins to merge them all together and before you know it, you're saying something in Spanish when someone asked you a question in Thai. Or your responding in Thai when someone said something in swahili.
Needless to say, it will be a fun transition back to the states.
The other day, my team and I were able to go to the University of Botswana and evangelize. We all had some wonderful conversations and as we sat down to eat lunch in the dining hall, they had music playing which reminded me of my school.
Only here, they also had the music videos playing.
As we sat and ate and talked our eyes kept shifting to the TV screens watching the videos play out.
As one who honestly loves music and I respect just about any artist, I began to lose so much respect for our American musicians.
Here were scantily clad women gyrating against men, each other, walls. A country themed place for a rap song where a boy (truly he didn't look more than 12) was singing, saying "give her the money, oh she's a stripper."
Where Robin thick has women congregating around him as he walks, in awe of all he does.
Where one artist is playing piano and singing and another joins him. The song plays out in a scene of an awkward high school dance and then students are encouraged to "get it on" not to "take so long".
I honestly have never thought much about music videos or song lyrics. Until I saw these videos.
Why must society portray women as objects?
Why, to get a thousand plus views on a music video, do people have to sell sex or wear hardly any clothes?
Why do artists insist on having women surround them wearing costumes both on stage and in videos?
What kind of people does that make us?
What kind of message is that sending to my two young, impressions nieces?
What kind of message did that send me as a child?
What kind of message am I leaving the younger generations if I don't help do something?
I don't have the answer. Heck if I did, I hope and pray this wouldn't be a problem. But I want this to be a discussion with loved ones, friends, artists in this industry that I love.
I want people, myself included, to ask these hard questions. Why do we have to portray ourselves like this around the world?
I challenge you with this:
Next time you watch a music video, whatever the genre, what is the message that is coming across? Is it one that you want to carry out with your life? Is it one that you would let a child see? What would happen if we changed the message that comes across in videos and lyrics? Would there be a radical change?
One can only hope.
*Disclaimer: I am not saying that no one should curse in a song, nor sing about love. That is life. I am saying why not think more about the words we are putting out there in the world. If a song is all about encouraging us to drink until we pass out, do drugs, and lose ourselves along with a video that portrays such things; let's rethink the message. *
