Outrage Sparks Questioning Country Music Star’s Lyrics After His Speech In Support Of Banning ‘Obscene’ Books In School
Parents have trust and hope that when they send their children to school, the youngsters will receive the education that they deserve. However, not everyone agrees on what should be considered appropriate to expose kids to at school.
Many people are calling out country music singer John Rich for his ‘hypocrisy’ because he supports censoring books in schools.
In his speech at a hearing with the Tennessee House of Representatives legislative committee, Rich compared teachers and librarians to pedophiles who are trying to kidnap kids in vans. They were present to discuss a controversial bill banning ‘obscene books.’
In front of the Tennessee legislature committee, Rich said: “What’s the difference between a teacher, educator, or librarian putting one of these books…on the desk of a student or a guy in a white van pulling up at the edge of school when school lets out and saying come on around kids let me read you this book and show you these pictures. What’s the difference in those two scenarios? There is a difference by the way. They can run away from the guy in the white van.”
According to 48-year-old Rich, he was speaking to them as a dad. Several attendees were also agreeing with him as they could be seen nodding.
After speaking in front of the legislature, Rich tweeted about why he thinks it’s important to speak up.
He wrote: “Testifying at the Tennessee House of Reps legislative committee today was quite a deal. Some supported, some dissented, but Going toe to toe with adversaries is necessary in these times. We must bring the fight to them. We The People are the firewall between tyranny and freedom”
However, many people are wondering if as a dad, he also thinks his own music is appropriate for children to listen to. And people on social media were quick to point out Rich’s own song lyrics to be quite obscene. For example, the lyrics of his song “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.”
One person wrote: “…so does this mean you are going to have ALL copies of your song “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy” & all copies of the video destroyed? Because it is pretty sexually explicit if you ask this teacher & I think it may be grooming children. I’ll wait.” Another commented: “Ummm…John? Just skimming through some lyrics. Not sure you’ve read them lately. I think you’ve done FAR more grooming than any teacher has.” And this commenter said: “His song lyrics are more disturbing than the books they want to ban!!!”
After a school district in the Volunteer State banned a book about the Holocaust, Republican state Representative Scott Cepicky introduced a bill to ban unspecified “obscene books” both in public and charter schools. This means that the public school (including a public charter school), employee or private contractor of a local education agency or public school would be breaking the law if they were found to have obscene material on school property that could be harmful to minors. However, no guideline was provided to determine what’s considered ‘obscene.’
What do you think about the move to ban such books? And do you think Rich’s stance on the issue is hypocritical?
