Now in defense of rap artists, I understand that this genre of music presents a vehicle of expression for some who might have had no other avenue for venting about the horrors of their lives. For many ghetto kids, rap music has provided a vehicle to escape abject poverty and horrendous living conditions. No one can fault a kid--deprived of the basic needs to get on in life--for using rap music as a way to leave an undesirable world behind. But at what expense to others is this exodus from the ghetto accomplished?

Indeed America thrives on and relishes violence in movies, video games, and television. As a nation, we have developed an insatiable appetite for all kinds of negative media blasts, and horrific news makes headlines much faster and in greater numbers than positive news. But why? It seems that humans thrive on bad news--even when we hear bad things about friends and relatives. The Duke de Rochefoucauld, famous for his witty maxims and epigrammatic writings, said that in the adversity of our best friends, we find something that does not necessarily displease us. From an empirical perspective, I think the duke might have something.