“Rum Songs” – are they contributing to family life deterioration?

Presently there is a raging debate on the influence of the rapidly growing popularity of so called rum songs.
The first incarnation of this modern day “rum song” was Adesh Samaros’s “rum till ah die”. But we all know that this is not the genesis of this offspring of the parent genre-Chutney. As a young boy growing up, I have heard many songs that glorified rum.
And even worst, some chutney songs even placed our nanny’s on bicycles and pelt she in the grass etc. It would seem to me that some have awaken one morning and realised that they finally have a scape-goat to use for the state of a section of our community. I think that because these songs has made transparent, a reality that has existed fro decades, that suddenly some has become so ashamed, that they are eager to kill it.
Now, I am not saying that there is absolutely no merit in the argument that “rum songs” have an influence on the behaviour of a society, I agree. What I have an issue with is when some find it so easy to target this new form of expression. I am saying also that what the songs are perceived to be contributing to, has been evident for a very long time.
Those who wants to characterise these songs as the root cause for the problems of alcoholism, bad parenting, broken homes etc. must provide data to support this. My contention is that wife beating, rum drinking men have existed before these songs, has anything been done about this, maybe I don’t know. Do we have data to show that since the, “rum till I die” fame, there has been some drastic increase in alcohol consumption, if this is a case, then bring that evidence and use that. But to simply say that it has is not good enough, rather at all.
Some are going to extreme pains to align “rum songs” with the deterioration of families in a particular sector, but the fact remains that excessive rum drinking has existed before the proliferation of these songs. Whilst I am confident that alcohol is a contributor, again my contention is that the “rum songs” is by no means the main culprit/contributor. We could stop singing the songs tomorrow and I am confident that the problems would still be alive and kicking. This is so because, it’s not simply a matter of glorifying such music, rather it’s about a culture of a people, these songs only mirrors what exist.