Pogosov very openly states his opinion that music does not influence people to act out in a certain way. He backs up his opinion by talking about the Columbine shootings. The two boys who did all of the shooting were known to have listened to a certain two bands that many think to have influenced the boys decisions to shoot innocent people, but Pogosov decided to take a closer look. He investigates the one "Nazi-supportive" band and argues that this band is not a supporter of Hitler's Germany. He researches a lot of evidence and argues that people will act how they want to act and think what they want to think based off of their own thoughts and motives. Pogosov ends by sharing that he and a whole club listen to the same music that the shooters did and it hasn't had an effect on them. Obviously, music doesn't have as big of an influence on society as we all thought.
I personally question this opinion because where do the people get those thoughts and personal opinions anyhow? They've got to come from somewhere or something. You cannot say that music and the media don't have any effect on people because they do--it's been proven that they do. Pogosov didn't say that he didn't believe music has no effect, he just said he didn't believe it has a major effect. He almost shoots down his whole argument also when he recounts how Cindy Lauper's music spiked the teen pregnancy rates in the late '80's. Obviously, everything around you impacts you in some way or another, even if the effects aren't immediate. Whether or not the Columbine shootings were a result of listening to "Nazi-supportive" music or not, we may never know.
