Had a friend whom I really like a respect who couldn’t get why I didn’t think the FB link to a YouTube video of a rape news report set to song wasn’t funny. For one thing, my mother was date raped, which is how I was conceived, and as happy as I am to be here, I don’t think rape itself is funny. For another, it makes fun of the whole ghetto culture, and while I do think some people may choose to live in that culture, a lot of people are stuck there. I found the idea of mocking it, especially alongside a rape news story, racist. And that makes me sad.

Since when did we become so culturally numb that it’s funny to joke about rape? There’s absolutely nothing funny I can think of about rape or poverty or lower class living and low levels of education. Most people I know who have experienced any of these things first hand find no humor in it. I know of no lower class, uneducated, poor person I’ve met who doesn’t wish their life was anything but those things. I know of no rape victim whom I’ve ever heard say they’re glad they were raped.

For a long time, I have seen our culture moving toward culture numbness on the violence. A lot of this is related to graphic depictions in television and movies, which is ironic given that so many Hollywood liberals are pro-gun control and complain about violence. Video games have contributed as well. I see my friends’ young kids playing with guns all the time as if what they are depicting is no big deal. Even the parents scarcely seem to notice. Gun proponents would argue “it’s the people not the guns,” but I argue, laws are made to protect people from ignorant/irresponsible other people. Which is why I am pro-gun control. And don’t give me the crap about the constitution either. Bazookas and assault weapons didn’t exist when it was written and the Founding Fathers could never fathom the possibilities available in weapons today. Their goal was to prevent tyrannical governments from violating the citizens’ rights, not to allow every homeowner to possess weapons capable of blowing up the neighborhood or shooting through four nearby houses simultaneously in the name of home defense.

My objection to rap music, besides the lack of musicality, are lyrics which glorify crime and killing. Shooting cops, raping women, robbing banks — rappers glorify these things all too often.

We are becoming more and more numb to things which once appalled us as a society, and perhaps that’s why those who argue for the return to traditional values with clear definitions of right and wrong are vilified. We don’t see those things as wrong any more and don’t want any one to remind us how ignorant and numb we’ve become.

Yet gun violence, killing, robbery, rape, abuse, racism — these things remain unfunny. They are tragic, disgusting, and horrifying. If they ever become less, we become less for that thinking. And I think we’ve sunken far enough as a culture. It’s time to come back up.

For what it’s worth…