Here we are again. Another post-MTV-VMA morning and everyone is all up in arms over the vulgarity and promiscuity of the show and I’m just standing over here like, ‘Where have y’all been?’

MTV hasn’t been appropriate for anyone under the age of 18 AT LEAST since they began airing ‘Undressed’ in 1999. And I’m not exactly sure how what we saw on the VMA’s is any different than Jersey Shore, The Real World or the latest and greatest music videos- all things we don’t consider society’s best. What you allow your children to watch is your business, but it may be a tad hypocritical to permit Beyonce thrusting in a music video and then be mortified by Miley. Personally I was more upset over what she did to my favorite song, but I digress.

I actually had the privilege of attending the a “Bridging the Gap” Women’s Conference in Charleston, SC this weekend and I was impressed by the excellent messages conveyed throughout the summit. Everything from standing up when your time is right to challenging to the liberal media to holding elected officials accountable, all in an effort to restore our great nation. But one issue that was neglected in the conference, and in every other speech, conference, summit and convention I have attended, is the role of pop culture in today’s society. It’s no secret that it’s skewed to the left. Between Lady Gaga’s everything-but-policymaking songs and Barack Obama tweeting Katy Perry post-performance, it is evident this is no small thing we are up against. But pop culture will always be there (unless we start banning and censoring) and it will always present underlying messages to children, teens and uneducated adults. The remedy is circumventing the message they are sending.

There is this new radical approach- it’s called parenting. When I was in middle school, Eminem was all the rage. I was allowed to listen to one *radio edit version* of his songs (The Real Slim Shady, of course). The album was not allowed in our home. My mother explained to me that the music did not reflect our values and did not reflect well on me to be listening to it. Of course I was irritated at the time and told all my friends that  my mom didn’t want me to be cool or have fun but somehow I still managed to absorb the message she was sending. It’s amazing what parenting can do. I’m a firm believer that when you’re instilling the proper values in your children, the outside ‘noise’ is irrelevant. You can also like a song and not become some terrible society-ruining citizen. Being exposed to the ‘badness of pop culture’, going home from school alone sometimes because my mom had to work and hearing about promiscuity from friends had zero effect on me because of what I learned early on from home. And I’m not the exception.

We, as conservatives, also need to stop publicly condemning things we can control for but simply don’t like. When you make it acceptable for your children to look to the media for role models, you’re going to lose. And so will your children. Start by teaching them what you want them to know.