There was a well know sociological study done circa 1980. I would like to track it down for you, but time is limited this morning.
Basically, it measured the correlation between TV violence as a child/adolescent and criminal behavior as an adult. The study calculated an R value of 0.25.
In statistical terminology, an R of 1 or -1 is a perfect correlation and an R of 0 is no correlation.
Normally, an R of 0.25 would be considered insignificant. But because this study was so exhaustive (thousands of data points), getting an R of 0.25 should not be construed as no correlation.
Rather this study showed that most people can process violence TV violence and not have it affect their psyche. But for some, it does have an effect on their development.
Unfortunately, the masses have trouble processing statistics, so this study tends to get downplayed in public policy. To be elected, politicians of all types have to portray everything as if it had an R value of -1, 0 , or 1.
I heard Deliah many, many times. I am not a wife beater. But it's not hard to see that for some men of my generation, that song reinforced the misogyny culture they were absorbing. In other words, Delilah was one of several cultural influences working towards their development of being a misogynist.
And in a like manner, some women of my generation were absorbing the idea that they deserved to get beaten by listening to this song.
You ask a great question about "Freedom of expression" vs. "political correctness." For sure, there will be consequences if we get into virtue policing. And those consequences may be bigger than an R value of 0.25. So this is a matter of another discussion.
There is no doubt that Delilah is a great tune. But its lyrics has affected the psyche of some people--even if they do not consciously internalize them.
It would have been great if the songwriter had put a more neutral set of words to the tune. Then my question would be: Would that song have been as popular? Such that we would be singing it at soccer matches today?
