Beyonce? Beyond help. Lady Gaga? Gag me.

blog by Ryan Oliver Hansen

Lady Gaga and Beyonce unfortunately spit dirt on my face today. But it was my own
fault. I watched a video of their song I liked on the radio. Not only did she and Beyonce degrade themselves with obscene words and gestures, they actually, I can’t believe they did this, portrayed themselves as mass murderers and depicted the killing of an entire diner filled with people (poisoning).

All of this happened after Lady Gaga escaped from prison where other images of intense violence were depicted. Two women were shown aggressively punching each other in the face. I was sad, disgusted, and worrisome after viewing this garbage.

What does this have to do with Cameroon? Why am I writing about this in my blog?

For starters, living in Cameroon has given me a heightened awareness of humanity’s capacity to degenerate to levels of behavior that ultimately lead to the abuse and neglect of society’s most innocent and vulnerable members—marginalized women , children and handicapped people. Cameroon is a place where almost the entire population has not had access to freedom and education, and thus they’ve been pushed to live a life of pleasure seeking and escapism through alcohol, sex, and music.

The music they’ve chosen (and created) normally consists of five primary messages (with different variations): sex with strangers, sexual aspects of the female body, gaining riches, altering the mental state through alcohol or drugs, and violence. I see young kids walking around with T-shirts that have an image of an American rap star holding a weapon. Others with a rap star in front of a marijuana leaf. Not far back I saw a pre-teen girl wearing a shirt that said, “Will F*** for $”

In my opinion, entertainment combined with a lack of ethical, social, or moral filtering of popular entertainers (shock stars) has contributed greatly to a completely casual attitude towards sexuality in Cameroon . This process is a worldwide problem; however, in Africa its consequences are much more obvious and are being felt in an immediate, deathly way.

The non-analytical approach to entertainment has aggravated the AIDS epidemic and increased violence and abuse amongst uneducated populations. Such is the reality for a majority of young Cameroonians. I’ve personally witnessed this phenomenon.

Not long ago, our female Director’s friend came to our house in crisis. She had been physically battered by her “boyfriend.” Not only had he attacked this young woman, he had destroyed her living space. We went to the cement room she was renting and found her bed, dresser, and belongings completely smashed apart and covered in urine and scattered food, including eggs.

Was this young man perhaps uneducated? Upon what foundation was he building his life’s philosophy and outlook? Chances are this young man has never read a book (may not be able to read). Chances are he forms his primary opinions and ideas based on “popular culture,” which in his case means music that depicts women as disposable toys and promotes obnoxious riches and domination as the goals of life. Otherwise put: a great portion of rap music.

Disturbingly, even after two years with Green Eyes in Africa, the girls at the New Hope Orphanage protested when Hanna, a German volunteer and I stated that a man never has the right to beat a woman. The girls looked at us in confusion. The Western world views violence against women as primitive. Is listening to music that refers to women as “hoes” and “bi*****” any less primitive?

Once women are objectified as sexual objects meant for pleasure or reproduction, such as in tribal situations or in the re-birth of tribal behavior in modern entertainment, the next step is violence. Period.

Young Americans with access to education, counselors, churches, community groups, sports programs, a variety of artists and music, and freedom can watch a degrading video such as Lady Gaga and Beyonce’s latest and probably filter the message as gross, stupid, or put it the parody drawer.

But what of young, impressionable Africans? They see videos like this on the MTV-like channels that cater to Africa with music and videos with black-only artists. Hence,this Lady Gaga and Beyonce video will be widely distrubuted because Beyonce is half black, and she’s like a Goddess to young Cameroonians.

After surviving Lady Gaga’s video (don’t worry, I’m a survivor!) I looked up two other videos of songs I like. The songs “Do you remember?” and “Replay” both had videos depicting women grinding on men, wearing almost nothing, and not speaking.

Conclusion: Artistic freedom is essential in a free society. A free society promotes education (not just academic). Negative or degrading art can be filtered out through educated minds that have developed critical thinking skills necessary to avoid unwanted influences or behaviors that lead to pain, violence, and death. But when negative art bombards impressionable minds lacking a strong foundation through which art can be filtered, those messages replace empowering education. I see it every single day in Cameroon.

Whew. I have to go exercise now. Gotta stay bootylicious.