Updates on Opinions as of 1/24/02...Lol. I still don't like Em, so really for the most part my opinions remain unchanged. I have, though, changed my attitude concerning him a bit. It's weird...I used to feel really really strongly against him, but once he's out of your face, out of the spotlight, you begin to see things in a whole different light in a sense.

I've found that people like to make huge deals about things that are really not that remarkable...things like robot dogs, cowboy boots, and Dawson's Creek. I mean for a while everyone acted like Eminem was the cause of the world's evils, like every angry aggressive white teenage boy is angry and aggressive and white just because of Eminem. Or that there's so much more violence and hatred everywhere directly as a result of Em.

Y'all, let's get some things straight here. Marshall Mathers is/was not the cause or result of the world's evils, and the fact that a lot of people made him out to be kinda throws me off. Maybe there's some sort of correlation but I hate it when people just throw everything on him and say, "There's your problem." So he's messed up in the head..a lot of people are far more messed up than he is, why aren't we going after them? So he says a lot of hateful things...there are millions of other people doing a lot of far more hateful things, why're we letting them off with a slap on the hand and focusing on this little messed up poser as if it would solve the problem? It boggles me.

So I don't like it when everyone makes this huge fuss about Eminem and people like him, it shows me that we're not focusing enough time and energy on the real problems and issues in the world, which I think we should be doing. Instead of blaming everything on him, let's try to actually solve things in the world, what say?

Anything below this line are opinions from before that may or may not still apply;).

"Jeers to strange bedfellows. MTV's efforts in the antihate movement have been irreproachable, including the 1998 documentary about the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepherd and the public-service spot featuring the boy's grief-stricken mother. So it was all the more disappointing that the channel recently devoted an entire weekend, dubbed "EmTV," to the release of rapper Eminem's new CD, The Marshall Mathers LP. Antigay Slurs - not to mention sexist lyrics and violent allusions - pepper the very popular CD. Certainly MTV has to please its viewers, and Eminem has no shortage of fans, but the channel missed an opportunity to further its well-fought cause."
Alright, you can all probably tell, whoever wrote this most likely didn't have enough information about the "EmTV" scematic; They weren't promoting the sentiments, only the idea of a chart-topping album. But he's got the right idea, wouldn't you say? It was a very odd move for MTV, and I didn't watch the channel for that whole weekend.

Recently, I saw an interview between Eminem and Kurt(That MTV interviewing guy...I forget his last name. Loder? Kobain?), and I'll have to admit Eminem did a fairly good job defending his animosity against Christina and the other pop artists. Apparently Christina offended him when she went on a roll about his values after playing his video on her little countdown thingie. As for the other artists like *NSYNC etc., he just doesn't like their music and ideals and doesn't want to be associated with the pop universe in general. I mean, I guess that's not a very good reason to diss and insult and discriminate and moon someone in your songs, but it's a substantial one. Kinda.

Don't accuse me of being prejudiced against him; I have heard songs from both of Eminem's albums and have tried to associate myself with his views. It hasn't worked. I have no idea what he's like in real life(Outside of his songs he actually seems rather mellow and not all that bad), but his "music" is just not a thing I respect. I have a hard time associating it with music at all; It's like some demented, unmusical version of rap. Really, it's very hate-filled, hate-oriented, driven by hate, stemming from hate. The messages he sends...It's very negative, very anti-what-I-try-to-believe-in, basically. Obviously, as a "musician," he has some artistic liberty with the lyrics, but when I hear his songs, I just think: Hateful, unappealing. Artistc talent? Maybe. Genius songwriter? Maybe. But in a statement of absolute personal taste, I believe that true artistry is reflected by identity. I've said this before, but even if *NSYNC were the best singers in the history of life existence but had the courtesy of Jerry Springer fans I would not listen to them, period.

Anyway, I diverge. I'd love to say that I just don't appreciate Em as a musician and that I appreciate him as a person, but truly, if even half of the things described in his songs stem from his life experiences, then I have no desire to ever meet this person. It's not me being a bigot, it's me having sense.

Despite everthing I say, I'm not totally, absolutely inarguably against Eminem and I can see a small fraction why people would listen to him(It pangs me to have to put it this way, but he's basically the ultimate figure of quote-unquote hardcore "masculinity"). I'd be going too far if I say that I respect or admire him, and certainly I don't think there should be more people like him. But I constantly remind myself that he is just a person with a certain set of ideals and views, just like me, just like *NSYNC or Matchbox Twenty, just like anyone else.

I will admit that he has great power, similar to the power *NSYNC wields; Power over the people who listens to his music. Yet in the words of the great and revered Uncle Ben, "With great power comes great responsibility." Eminem abuses this power. I don't like his "art," don't like to think of it as being revered. Is it just me and my d**n prissy choirboy crap that I pull? Is there really no shread of hardcore within me that is drawn to the dark side? Probably:).

On the other OTHER hand, I also don't believe that just because some kid is listening to Em is some great cause for alarm or distress concerning his mentality. Em's music isn't very pleasant and I don't believe anyone should aspire to it, but we shouldn't be caught up about this censorship crap. So there.

Also, I find it absolutely amusing that the badboy of music, the "real" man in da throng, had to use a backup tape during his performance at the VMAs.