Al Gore's OTHER lapse in judgment - Democratic Underground

northernsoul

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Wed Jun-13-07 09:24 AM
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Al Gore's OTHER lapse in judgment

He should not have aided and abetted his wife's absurd and constitutionally dubious attempt to get the federal government to censor rock music. Here's a little refresher about Tipper and the PMRC:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMRC

The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was a American committee formed in 1985 by four women: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice President Al Gore; Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker; Pam Howar, wife of Washington realtor Raymond Howar; and Sally Nevius, wife of Washington City Council Chairman John Nevius. They were known as the "Washington wives" — a reference to their husbands' connections with the federal government. The Center eventually grew to include 22 directors.

The PMRC claimed that popular music, and especially rock and heavy metal music, was partially responsible for the contemporary increase in rape, teenage pregnancy, and teen suicide. The group's mission was "to educate and inform parents" about "the growing trend in music towards lyrics that are sexually explicit, excessively violent, or glorify the use of drugs and alcohol," and to seek the censorship and rating of music.

Gore watched other rock music videos and concluded: "The images frightened my children, they frightened me! The graphic sex and the violence were too much for us to handle." Susan Baker became alarmed after hearing her seven-year-old daughter singing along with Madonna songs that Baker considered "suggestive." Gore and Baker, along with Howard and Nevius, formed the PMRC in May 1985.
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The PMRC claimed that the change in rock music was attributable to the decay of the nuclear family in America. Gore asserted that families are "haven(s) of moral stability" which protect children from outside influence, and without the family structure rock music was "infecting the youth of the world with messages they cannot handle."
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In August 1985, 19 record companies agreed to put "Parental Guidance: Explicit Lyrics" labels on albums to warn of explicit lyrical content. However, before the labels could be put into place, the Senate agreed to hold a hearing on so-called "porn rock". This began on 19 September 1985, when representatives from the PMRC, three musicians, and Senators Paula Hawkins and Al Gore testified before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on "the subject of the content of certain sound recordings and suggestions that recording packages be labeled to provide a warning to prospective purchasers of sexually explicit or other potentially offensive content."
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Many record stores refused to sell albums containing the label (most notably Wal-Mart), and others limited the sale of those albums to minors. The label became known as the "Tipper sticker". Some politicians attempted to criminalize the sale of explicit records to minors, while others attempted to completely ban such records.

That's right, Al thought these killjoys are better suited to determine what kind of music you should be allowed to listen to you are:

Al Gore's support for this kind of hysterical paternalism causes me to seriously question his judgment.