End Metallophobia (previously named 'Fear of a metal planet')

Social scientists build case for 'survival of the kindest' This article states that animals who treat each other kindly and more compassionately usually far better as both individuals and as a species. But what if we also decided to apply this to human beings, where the levels of kindness and equality are postively correlated with how well a nation does both socially and economically. We all know that the nations that fare better economically are also the ones who treat their people in the best possible way. Using heavy metal fans (and other 'alternatives' like punks, goths, and emos) as an example, as well as women, the elderly or disabled, I have a theory that those nations that treat these groups (or any other disadvantaged group) well often do better economically. For instance, the rates of violence against women are much lower in developed nations like Sweden or Norway, than they are in third world nations. Also, heavy metal is more popular in these nations and t...

Article Review: Teacher testifies in case hearing in http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/feb/03/teacher-alex-barton-case-testifies-hearing/ I have blogged extensively about the issue of 'Ms Wendy Portillo vs Alex Barton' in my other blog (Night Owl 1967). And even though the issue was a grey area, where both parties were in the wrong at the time, what the teacher (Ms Portillo) did was handle the situation incorrectly, by getting other children to vote either for or against Alex Barton from her class (Alex was a boy diagnosed with Autism or Asperger's syndrome). The reason being is that the boy was 'singled out' and was publically humiliated in front of the other children. All I knew about what he allededly did wrong was lift the desk with his feet and throw crayons about the place, and that he said to his mother that he felt 'bad' and 'hurt' by what the others said about him. There was never anything about what the other kids said specifically, nor w...

Wikipedia describes what Emo is about exactly: Emo (music) - Taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Stylistic origins: hardcore punk, indie rock Cultural origins: mid 1980s Washington, DC Typical instruments: Guitar - Bass - Drums Mainstream popularity: Sporadically through the 1980s and '90s, growing in the early 2000s Subgenres: Emocore - Hardcore emo - Emo violence - Screamo Fusion genres: Post-hardcore Regional scenes: Midwestern emo Other topics: List of emo groups - Timeline of alternative rock Here is what Wikipedia's definition of the genre: Emo is a subgenre of hardcore punk music. Since its inception, emo has come to describe several independent variations, linked loosely but with common ancestry. As such, use of the term (and which musicians should be so classified) has been the subject of much debate. It's origins and original meanings: In its original incarnation, the term emo was used to describe the music of the mid-1980s Washington, DC scene and its ass...

Most runaway teens return home with help of family ties, study finds Teenagers who resolve their differences with their parents are more likely to return to the family home.

Article Review: Took, K, J and Weiss, D, S (1994), ‘The Relationship between Heavy Metal and Rap and Adolescent Turmoil: Real or Artefact? In Adolescence, Volume 29, Number 115, Fall 1994 ; pages 613-621 This journal article illustrates the relationship between preferences for Heavy Metal and/or Rap music, and difficulties during adolescence. Both the teenaged subjects and their parents were interviewed, and the teenagers were asked about their current 'psychosocial functioning' and their music preferences. The group of subjects who liked Heavy Metal and Rap were compared to a group of adolescents who liked other types of music. The focus of concern was the increasingly explicit references to drugs, sex and violence, and Heavy Metal and Rap have come under the most scrutiny from religious, political, parents' and medical groups, which were likely to affect the minds of children and young people. Heavy Metal music (a particular type of hard rock) often attracted concern ...

I have decided to include some of these in this blog so one can read my opinion on what I believe. Some of these reviews will be on the Reading list, while others will be from other articles I have read online, as well as previous contributions I have made to various social networking and blogging sites (and even an old DIY website I used to have with the now defunct Geocities, which was powered by Yahoo! [TM]). They are there for your own enjoyment as well as to use as a reference to further research (though I do ask that if you are going to quote from me, you do give me due credit)!!!

I have just recently made a list of the books and articles (from magazines, journals and online) that I would like to recommend. This will be pictured on your right. The purpose of this reference list is to not only display the sources of information I used during my 'Honours year' (2 years part time) for Sociology but also to provide readers with a balanced view of the different types of music genres that are around. Most of the articles mentioned include PDF (Portable document files) and Ms Word (Microsoft) files, and sometimes J-pegs (.JPG or .JPEG) or text (.txt) files which I have uploaded to Google Docs (documents). I hope most of you will find them to be very interesting reading.

Binder, Amy: Constructing racial rhetoric: Media depictions of harm in heavy metal and rap; American Sociological Review; Dec 1993; 58, 6; ABI/INFORM Global; pg. 753 This article refers to the depictions of Heavy Metal and Rap in the Media, framed in terms of cultural beliefs. In other words, the portrayal of both music genres by the media is negative, and much of the moral panic surrounding the music has been generated by groups such as the PMRC (Parents' Music Resource Centre) and Moral Majority in the USA.  For those of you old enough to remember, the whole fiasco began in the mid-1980's when a group of politician's wives, who called themselves the PMRC, attended the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.  Their objective was to reveal the 'sexually explicit' content in many rock lyrics, and most of these were Heavy Metal lyrics.  Their position was that such music filled young peoples' ears with violence and pornography, and glori...