THEY WANT YOUR MTV.

Violent and sexually explicit music, movies, and games have become the one campaign issue all the candidates agree on

It was not the usual fare for a hearing of the Commerce Committee of the United States Senate, a rather formal bunch whose work usually consists of things like trade and telecommunications.

"Blood, guts, guns, cuts, knives, lives, wives, nuns, sluts," declared a witness testifying before the panel one day last month.

The witness was Lynne Cheney, former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities and wife of vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney. And if the words were not her own--they were lyrics from Eminem, rap's bad boy du jour--her verdict on their artistic merit clearly was.

"It is despicable," she said. "It is horrible. This is dreadful. This is shameful. This is awful."

There may be a presidential race going on, but members of America's political establishment, whatever their party, have managed to rind at least one issue they can agree on: condemning the envelope-pushing images of violence and sexuality in popular culture. Think musicians like Eminem, Limp Bizkit, Marilyn Manson; Hollywood offerings like Scary Movie; and any video game in which the characters' idea of a friendly greeting is decapitation.

These days, it seems every politician is attacking the entertainment that is near and dear to millions of young people, at least a few of whom manage to watch and listen to the stuff without becoming serial killers. The concern is part of a broader debate over whether violent and sexually explicit entertainment is harmful--and if so, what a democratic society can properly do to rein it in. First Amendment advocates worry that the fallout could be some kind of government regulation over how music, for example, is sold. Nonetheless, virtually all the major politicians seem to be singing the same song right now.

Consider:

Even before the hearings began, Gore and his running mate, Senator Joseph Lieberman, were threatening unprecedented government regulation if the industry did not "clean up its act" and stop marketing violent products to teenagers. Lieberman, a longtime critic of the entertainment business, has over the years even suggested that fairly tame TV shows such as Friends and Seinfeld be moved out of prime time, to make it less likely that kids would see them.

"No parent in American should be forced to compete with popular culture to raise their children," Lieberman said in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Bush has also jumped in, saying that the entertainment industry needs to police itself better, but that responsibility for keeping objectionable material out of the hands of children lies with parents, not government. (Although as Governor of Texas, he signed a law making it illegal for state agencies to invest money in companies that produced gangsta rap or other music with explicit lyrics.)

Even the brash outsider, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, sounds like part of the club on this issue. "Our children are too precious a resource to be turned over to a bunch of violent, addictive, pornographically oriented corporations whose CEOs get invited to diplomatic dinners at the White House," Nader says.

And let's not overlook the political spouses.

There's Tipper Gore, a Grateful Dead devotee and onetime rock drummer, whose outrage over sexually explicit lyrics more than a decade ago made her an early soldier in the battle over popular music. She is perhaps the single person most responsible for the black-and-white parental-advisory labels that now appear on CDs.

For Lynne Cheney, her testimony at the hearings was not the first time she had jumped into the culture wars. When she headed the Humanities Endowment under Presidents Reagan and Bush, she made it a personal mission to torpedo artistic performances she found objectionable. Over the years, she has singled out the film Natural Born Kd/ers and the performers 2 Live Crew, Public Enemy, and Guns N' Roses, among others, for material she considered violent, overtly sexual, and in some cases, degrading to women.

ECHOES OF COLUMBINE 

But her latest criticisms come as the debate over popular culture reaches a boil, partly because of a recent Federal Trade Commission report that exposed how the entertainment industry has marketed adult material to children. President Clinton had ordered the report after the public outrage over the Columbine shootings. The two shooters, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, had often watched the movie Natural Born Killers and Harris was reportedly an avid fan of Doom, a first-person shooter video game.

Entertainment-industry officials acknowledge that there have been abuses, but critics of the hearings suggested that those lambasting popular entertainment are out of touch with their own culture, or have not taken the time to really listen to the music.

"Millions of people like it," Danny Goldberg, president of Artemis Records, said at the hearings. "In a free society, what do you do about it?"

Goldberg pointed out that the young people who enjoy this entertainment had not been invited to the hearing. "They are not represented here today," he said. "There are no music fans."

In fact, teenagers seem to have been left out of the debate altogether, and that, some critics say, makes the attacks easier. From a strictly political viewpoint, a politician probably has little to lose by ignoring, and even antagonizing, the younger generation. Teens under 18 can't vote, but even among the 24 million potential voters under the age of 25, only about a quarter voted in the last presidential election. "Frankly, if I were running for office, I'd be trashing the movie industry myself," says Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America.

Both Gore and Bush deny that they want the government to censor entertainment. But Gore says that if the industry does not stop marketing adult movies, music, and video games to minors within six months, the federal government should step in. Bush has shied away from saying what action, if any, he would take on the issue. And he has attacked Gore for criticizing pop culture while accepting millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the entertainment industry.

Concern over young people's music is hardly a new development. Elvis Presley once scandalized a nation by swiveling his hips in a way that might

now be acceptable on Sesame Street. And decades before record labels began putting out "clean" versions of CDs for radio play, Little Richard worked with a lyricist to clean up the 1950s hit "Tutti Frutti" for recording.

In the mid-1980s, Tipper Gore formed a group known as the Parents Music Resource Center and began pushing Congress for restrictive legislation. The music industry then adopted its voluntary parental-advisory labeling system to head off the threat of government action. Although the labels were intended as warnings for parents, not censorship, many stores refuse to sell discs with these labels to minors. Some of the largest retailers, like Wal-Mart, even refuse to stock them.

But today, concern has shifted from gyrating hips and sexual innuendo to references to rape, murder, and strangulation--in the case of Eminem, of his own family members. Eminem, a talented performer with a knack for creating catchy songs, has taken violent imagery to a new level. He--or, more accurately, his character Slim Shady--raps about raping his mother and killing his pregnant girlfriend. He has also infuriated many with his slurs against gay people.

Eminem says his critics are taking the lyrics too literally. "A lot of my rhymes are just to get chuckles out of people," he told one interviewer. "Anyone with half a brain is going to be able to tell when I'm joking and when I'm serious."

The controversy hasn't hurt his career, either. His last CD, The Marshall Mathers LP, has sold more than 6 million copies. As he put it at the recent MTV Video Music Awards, where he accepted the video-of-the-year award: "Every time a critic tries to slam me in the press, I sell more records. I really want to thank you people for making my record as big as it was."

FOCUS: Should Government Regulate Pop Culture to Protect Young People?

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

To help students understand the discussion of youth-oriented pop culture in this fall's presidential campaign and consider related issues: whether the First Amendment right of free speech extends to speech promoting violence or hatred, and how free speech should be weighed against the need to protect children.

Discussion Questions:

* Some observers say violent entertainment motivates some young people to become aggressive. Do you agree?

* Suppose it is proved that entertainment companies systematically market R-rated movies and violent rap to preteens. Should those companies be punished? If so, what would be a proper punishment?

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

Before Reading/Poll: Tell students that in a recent Web poll, most respondents said it was the job of parents--not government-to ensure that young people are not exposed to violent or sexually explicit entertainment. Poll the class to see whether they agree. Students should defend their votes.

Discussion: Testifying before Congress in September, vice-presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman said there was a "culture of carnage" surrounding America's young people. He said government should act to curb the marketing of violent movies, music, and video games to young people if the industry fails to police itself. How would students define a "culture of camage"? Would a ban on marketing violent material to teens violate First Amendment protections of the tight of free speech? Is regulating culture different from regulating sales of tobacco and alcohol to minors?

Debate: Students should debate these questions: Does violent entertainment motivate young people to imitate the behavior portrayed? Is the crusade against violent entertainment a politically motivated assault upon the culture of youth?

Cite an example from TV ads to help students understand concerns about the influence of the media. Have students seen car ads that warn viewers not to attempt the maneuvers shown onscreen? Do carmakers fear viewers will imitate the daredevil driving on the tube? Is this concern similar to that involving young people and violent and sexually explicit entertainment? Rap Attack: Have students write rap songs attacking rap songs that celebrate assault, sexual abuse, and other forms of violence.

Eric NAGOURNEY is a staff editor for The New York Times.