'I Kissed a Girl'? I didn't like it
Trevor Shunk
Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: Opinion
For one to claim that "I Kissed a Girl" does not affect its listeners is preposterous.
Music influences listeners whether or not they are aware of it. Routinely listening to songs like Perry's will have an enduring effect on listeners' views of love, marriage, relationships, and even friendships. Knowledge is not a kind of passive possession that can be forgotten. Rather, as creatures of habit, we unavoidably put our knowledge into practice.
In absorbing the knowledge presented by Perry, our minds are being irreversibly shaped to think and act in perverted and counter-intuitive ways.
Regarding the kind of influences we expose young people to at an early age, Aristotle remarks that "it makes no small difference to be trained in habits this way or that way straight from childhood, but an enormous difference, or rather all the difference." Lives are a collection of habits. Whether or not we are trained early in virtuous habits will have an effect. If we believe that allowing young girls or even ourselves to hear this music will not alter our outcomes, we simply do not understand human nature.
The next time you get in your automobile, flip on the radio, and hear this song, try something new. Turn it off.
Who knows? You may like it.
Music influences listeners whether or not they are aware of it. Routinely listening to songs like Perry's will have an enduring effect on listeners' views of love, marriage, relationships, and even friendships. Knowledge is not a kind of passive possession that can be forgotten. Rather, as creatures of habit, we unavoidably put our knowledge into practice.
In absorbing the knowledge presented by Perry, our minds are being irreversibly shaped to think and act in perverted and counter-intuitive ways.
Regarding the kind of influences we expose young people to at an early age, Aristotle remarks that "it makes no small difference to be trained in habits this way or that way straight from childhood, but an enormous difference, or rather all the difference." Lives are a collection of habits. Whether or not we are trained early in virtuous habits will have an effect. If we believe that allowing young girls or even ourselves to hear this music will not alter our outcomes, we simply do not understand human nature.
The next time you get in your automobile, flip on the radio, and hear this song, try something new. Turn it off.
Who knows? You may like it.
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