The sky didn't fall

Last weekend, my city hosted an event billed as the Aggressive Music Festival. Perhaps not surprisingly, it generated controversy as soon as it was scheduled. A group of so-called concerned citizens organized to try to get the city council to cancel the festival. The two leaders of this group were a local real estate agent and a restaranteur who's a county legislator.

The group made several allegations. It was like something out of a bad made-for-TV movie.

First, that the city shouldn't implicitly endorse the horrible lyrics of these bands by allowing the concert in the city-owned and -operated Civic Center arena. This was probably the most absurd charge. Is the New York City government endorsing the Republican platform simply by allowing Madison Square Garden to host the party's national convention? No sane person would suggest this.

Then they went on about how violent the bands' lyrics were. I went to a hockey game at the Civic Center during which the visiting team's equipment manager attacked the home team's mascot. Actual fights on the ice occur at least once during most games. Will there be a movement to eject the popular hockey team, whose players sometimes commit actual violence, rather than merely singing about it?

The county legislator said that if the city didn't cancel the concert, he'd push the county to withhold its annual contribution to the Civic Center's operation. It was disgusting that an elected official who's supposed to be representing the city's interests wants to punish the city taxpayers because the Civic Center hosts a concert that doesn't conform to his personal musical tastes. Will he campaign for de-funding of the public library because their collection includes Mein Kampf?

The most stupefying thing about this campaign was the propaganda. The "concerned citizens" sent a flier to every house in the city informing people about their Crusade. The fliers gave examples of the allegedly horrible lyrics they objected to.

My jaw hit the ground when I saw this.

They are concerned about children being exposed to these lyrics, so their solution is to send clearly printed copies of those objectionable lyrics to every household in the city. These Crusaders think they're protecting kids from garbage by sending it directly to their mallbox?! Why don't they put up a billboard at the Little League fields while they're at it?

These folks are truly sending kids mixed messages. War is glorified on television every day (and when the media try to show the more unpleasant realities of war, they are accused of sensationalism or, more insidiously, undermining the troops). The Iraq aggression opened with a campaign that caused large devastation of property and loss of civilian life, as is inevitable in any modern war. The campaign was called by the impressive sounding name "shock and awe," which is a euphemism for "mass destruction." Yet people are more worried about violence in music lyrics?

If these "concerned citizens" are worried about violence, then I urge them to focus on the real thing rather an innocuous concert.

Last weekend, the concert was actually held. And the most incredible thing happened: nothing. Lots of males in their teens and twenties milled around downtown and rocked to their music. They dressed in black and had a lot of piercings and tatoos and were friendly to the older people who frequent Burger King, even if the latter were bemused by the their appearance.

Our city was invaded by kids who dressed unconventionally and listened to an alternative style of music. And you know what?

The sky didn't fall.