Sir, - I'm quite sure many of the young adult readers of your paper groaned upon reading Peter Burke's letter (November 8th), which interestingly coincided with the first publication of your new weekly Wednesday publication, The Ticket. Personally, I think it's great to see there's still music out there that parents hate!It comes as no shock to me that a man who can be outwitted by his seven-year old son also fails to recognise the irony and sarcasm of Eminem's songs. In Kill You, Eminem is merely using the metaphor of killing one's parents as an expression of rage. Shakespeare wrote about similar things in Hamlet, and that is a play which is freely available in every bookshop in the country (with no parental advisory!). Does Mr Burke feel that this offending material must also be confiscated?Rap music may not sound pretty, but it is the closest thing Western society has to poetry which young people listen to on a large scale. And it offers a somewhat more intellectual stimulation than that awful guff such as Westlife, who are now undeservedly standing on a par with the Beatles in terms of consecutive No. 1s in the British singles charts.Censorship (and perhaps careless calls for censorship) cause much more damage to the moral fabric of society than the most perverse rap songs ever could. - Is mise,
Seanan Kerr, Bothar Min, An Uaimh, Co na Mi.