Like I said, particularly in the past year, the children have been photographed in shops and on the street without masks with their father… so obviously as they were getting older the restrictions were getting less.

It’s easy to criticise Michael for influencing them to wear masks.. but have you seen the footage when they are out with their dad??? To have a minimum of 50 people (mostly grown men/paparazzi) surround you and flashing cameras in your face and screaming fans I think the kids probably liked wearing the masks!

With their dad being Michael Jackson their life was not normal… the media/paparazzi/crazed fans made it impossible for them to function as “normal” kids in public with their dad. I don’t think making them cover their faces from masses of cameras and hysteria will cause any detrimental effects to their lives. Proof of that seeing Paris on stage at his funeral. They are very, very intelligent kids and if they haven’t fully comprehended why their father tried to protect them I am sure over time as they are now hounded and photographed freely they will understand.

Walk up to any successful rap artists, take your pick. Then say “It’s your fault that kids today are acting more violent than in the previous years.”

I guarantee you, 90% of those you say it to will answer with something like this: “It’s not my fault that they listen to my music.”

The common-knowledge reason why these rappers talk about sex and drugs and violence is because they’re expressing what they’ve seen and felt in life. But if they had any passion whatsoever on such a topic, they would answer with something like this: “This music is an expression of what I’ve been through; I’ll take all the responsibility you want me to for my listeners’ decisions, but I deserve to express my feelings and memories in the form of music.”

Today, it seems almost as though rap artists are ashamed of the music they make; anyone who cared to interpret what they’ve been through in life into their music would feel a sense of defense if anyone started whining about it. It would be something close to them, because in a sense it was actually them. Saying that it’s toxic to children is like saying that the artist is toxic to children, to which they would take the shot and retaliate, not try and point the bullet elsewhere and continue on merrily.

The fact of the matter is that when one answers with the first presented, they honestly don’t care about their music. They’re not exercising their right to expression, they’re exercising their right to get more money. In which case, the FCC should be on close monitor of what they’re saying in their music since they have no such defense.

I want to see a rap artist who, instead of going for the money in the end, sticks to his or her music because they want to cry out to the world what they’ve felt. I want them to have passion, or a backbone, enough to say that “I’ll take every shot you have for what I do, but in the end I’ll win because I deserve to say that which I need to.”

America entitles you to the freedom of speech to express, not the freedom of simply speech. I can’t say whatever I want; just what matters to me.

~ C-Mac