Sir, - Peter Burke (November 8th) feels that one album from a rather puerile and moderately talented rap artist would merit a reaction whereby "the authorities have power to seize offending material from record stores and ban it from our TVs". Nonsense. Mr Burke's proposal comes from a fine tradition - one which drove artists from this island into sometimes permanent exile.
Would Mr Burke argue that the music of the Beatles, with barely masked drug references, should be subject to such a ban? Would the seminal music of Sex Pistols (more angry and real than 10 Eminem albums) be subject to such censorship? Of course not, because it is likely that he was of the same generation that forcefully rejected such calls from his parents.
True, the material is not suitable for children; but banning it will not resolve the generational gulf between a parent, uncomprehending that his own progeny listen to such abominable music, and a child who thinks Eminem is pretty cool to come up with such rude and catchy rhymes. A parent has a responsibility to monitor or discuss what a child sees, hears and plays. The State should not seize "inflammatory;; material merely because a seven-year-old has attained access to the ramblings of a mediocre rapper. - Yours, etc.,
Colm Linnane, Lindsay Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 9.