I was totally appalled at the non-judgmental perspective your newspaper took with the story, “Store sells punk, not apologies.” Perhaps it would be prudent to take a moment and educate you and your readers as to what filth and smut Dave Willis brags about being able to “special order” and peddle to your children.
“You —-in’ touch me I will rip you apart; I’ll reach in [and] take a bite out of that s— you call a heart.” Now this is one of the lines from your friends and mine, the thrash-metal band “Slipknot” on their album “Iowa,” the lyrics of which graphically describe sexual homicide. Is this what you want your teen spending the Christmas gift certificate you gave them for?
Let’s look at some more “must haves” for the upcoming spring and summer collections: the latest release from Kid Rock (his previous album sold more than 10 million copies) glamorizes cocaine and features a song with the delicate title “You Never Met a Mother —-er Quite Like Me.”
Oh, let’s go on… we’re just getting warmed up! Let’s be sure to get our order into Dave’s music early for US band Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff” featuring such uplifting advice and guidance as “All those motherf…… that want to step up I hope you know I pack a chainsaw. I’ll skin your . . . raw.”
Willis is making no apologies for this, folks. He doesn’t care about you or your children as long as he can make the buck. The article almost puts down any other business that refuses to carry such trash. Maybe Wal-Mart and Kmart don’t carry it for a reason?
Veteran rapper Ice T has been involved in censorship disputes as a solo artist and with his band Body Count. Pro-censorship lobby groups tried to have Body Count’s self-titled album banned because of songs including “KKK Bitch” and “Cop Killer.”
Hmmm… now is this really what the founding fathers meant by the First Amendment? If so, why can’t we show late night films of pedophiles enjoying their activities on network television? Hey, why bother with late at night? “First Amendment rights, you know!”
So, if you’re buying into that liberal Hollywood line that says the media does not influence children’s behavior, call me and I’ll give you a personal testimony as to what I, as a five-year-old, personally did to a neighbor child with a toy gun after watching an episode of “Maverick” (a popular ’50s western TV program showing the hero getting knocked over the head once a week with a gun but always getting up to win the day before the final commercial). Unfortunately, my neighbor was taken to the hospital for stitches. Never happened to Matt Dillon or Festus….
More useful information can be seen at: http://www.aap.org/policy/01219.html
“Impact of Music Lyrics and Music Videos on Children and Youth” (RE9648) A report by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Bottom line: I don’t have children in this neighborhood. But, I am willing to stand with any one of you in a sidewalk protest in front of Willis’ store until he realizes the parents and citizens of Oak Harbor are “mad as hell and just won’t take it anymore.”
If he won’t apologize to us, then we can watch as he will begin apologizing to his bill collectors when he finds our indignation affects his wallet!
You want to see change in this ever-declining society and its values? Let’s do something about it, together.
Sonny Starks is a retired award-winning Navy photojournalist presently residing in Oak Harbor and pursuing a bachelor’s degree in church ministry. He is a member of the Oak Harbor First Baptist church.
