I'm running a fever, so I'm up, of course. To keep my mind off the burning pain in my head and eyes, I picked up a paperback 'Ama brought from school. It's called "Why Suicide?" and is one of those books organizations give away for free to troubled youth and whatnot. Absolute trash, honestly. It was written back in '87, so go figure. But it really pissed me off, really it did. I can relate to what the author of said book was trying to say, and I respect what he was trying to do, but goddamn! Some of that shit is so crazy!

There's this one chapter in particular that aggravates me. It's called "Rock N' Role Models" or something like that and is dedicated entirely to blaming rock music for teen suicides! Wha-? Come again?! I listen to rock music all the time, and I'm still here, ain't I? Sure, I might be a bit weird sometimes (a lot of times, Dud says) and I gotta sense of humor no one but me seems to understand, but that don't mean I wanna kill myself for listening to Ozzy Osbourne or System of a Down. It really pissed me off that the author implied that the song "Shoot to Thrill" by ACDC suggests that suicide is fun. Did this guy even listen to the damn song before he wrote his fuckin' book?

I'm sorry, but I don't think music has anything to do with it. It's the parents. Take me for example. Back in high school and even to this day, I sometimes like to sit back and blast some underground rap. I would listen to The Marshall Mathers LP all the time. Did I ever kill anyone? No. Turn delinquent? No! Did I ever go out and do drugs? Uh...

The answer is no.

All thanks to the great amount of communication I share with my mother. So don't tell me single-parent families have anything to do with it either. My mom was more than enough to handle me and my sis. We always talked, the three of us, about almost everything. And it's stayed that way. It's just so easy to sue the famous people about it. It's like Em said once, "Quit trying to censor music, this is for your kids' amusement. But don't blame me if little Eric jumps off the balcony. You should've been watching him. Apparently you ain't parents."

If kids get brainwashed by the music they listen to, it's because their parents haven't been there enough for them, to teach them the differences between what goes on in the recording studio and real life.

Hm. Uncharacteristically philosophical on my part, this whole rant has been. Eh, blame it on the fever. I'm starting to see splotches of light again that are definately not coming from the computer monitor. Damn. Better end this shit while I'm ahead.