Increasing Concerns.

The debate about "political correctness" begun in the 1980s continued in the 1990s. There were increasing protests about racism and sexism, particularly in humor and popular music. Some forms of visual and aural entertainment used violent images; some advocated violence against specific kinds of people. For decades there had been concern about a possible connection between violence shown on television and violent behavior, but the focus widened to include words and not just visual images. Violent lyrics became big news in 1992 when the rapper Ice-T (Tracy Morrow) recorded "Cop Killer" on his Body Count album. Although Ice-T said the song was about a character's avenging Rodney Glen King's beating by shooting Los Angeles policemen, but not an endorsement of the act itself, many felt that giving this character a voice could lead to the violent actions he described. Law enforcement officers...