Term Paper on Censorship
Yes, music censorship has become too harsh and is too strict. Censorship has definitely gone too far in our country and in others. For example, political militant and Algerian singer, Lounes Matoub was murdered for his lyrics in his songs. Acts have even been established and are in effect such as the Criminal Justice Act which prevents the play of "house" music or "any gathering of more than two people who wanted to listen to repetitive beat music" ("Hear no Evil Music," par.12). Music has also provided people someone to blame for tragedies, such as the Columbine, or anything associated with the violation of the law. Even though Marilyn Manson was blamed for Columbine, his L.A. show sold out in 12 minutes.
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The FTC is not against or for censorship, but they do provide facts, for example sales of clean vs. dirty music. Stores have even begun to censor and not sell records with lyrics associated with cursing, violence and/or sex. Eminem also has been under much heat associated with his first and most recent albums because of his gay bashing and mention of violence against women. These are reasons why I am against censorship. These are reasons why I am against censorship and why it has gone to far.
Censoring music in other countries has included violence, banning or death of many artists. For example, Wagner was banned from Israel for his hateful views towards Nazis or Zubin Mehta's orchestra was physically beaten after people found out he was going to conduct music from "Tristan and Isolde." In Mexico, Conlon Nancarrow was harassed for his choose of "self-exile-and relative neglect" ("Banned Music," par.4). Another instance was Arvo Part's declaration "I Believe in Jesus" was banned from the Soviet Union for 10 years. In 1989, Benjamin Britten who was the creator of "Death in Venice" was denied when he tried to put his piece in the Glyndebourne educational opera festival because it was said to "promote homosexuality" in schools ("Banned Music," par.2). Britain was where the Sex Pistols and Frankie Goes To Hollywood were banned throughout the 1970's and 1980's. Songs include The Beatles' "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and "A Day In The Life" because they had preferences to drugs. Even acts have been established to fight for censorship. The Criminal Justice Act outlawed dance music to prevent raves in Britain. More recently, the Media Marketing Accountability Act of 2001 was established.
This act would "treat the marketing of adult-rated movies, music and video games to children like any other deceptive act that harms consumers.It would give the FTC the authority to penalize companies that violate this provision with civil fines up to $11,000 per offense" remarked Hillary Clinton in the FTC report September, 2000. (Sanneh, par.2)
Music has even been blamed for such tragedies as the Columbine shooting Marilyn Manson was the prime subject for that controversy because the two boys were said the have been fans of the rock star. Soon after the shooting, reporters found out that the two boys did not even listen to Manson. Even though Manson was blamed for this, his L.A. show sold out in 12 minutes. Critics also spread blame saying that rock spreads the use of drugs and anti-religious feelings of teenagers. Eric Nuzum, director of WKSU-FM, the Kent State University's National Public Radio affiliate says that "any hint of sex from Elvis to Madonna, obscene album cover art and obscenities should end" (Szatmary, par.10).
The FTC has recently put out a report concerning clean music. They said that "clean versions of hip-hop music have cumulated .5-22% of the total sales" (Sennah, par.10). They studied "violent entertainment" and all top-selling records, but they put in a footnote in the September, 2001 report "The Commission did not attempt evaluate which recordings contained violent lyrics," so their studies were practically useless. Luther Campbell once stated "No other music is as controversial as rap music." He could not be more correct because 21 of 29 "stickered music recordings first saw on programs popular with teens are either hip-hop or r&b" (Sennah, par.4).
The sticker on the front of explicit records states PARENTAL ADVISORY- EXPLICIT CONTENT. It was created in 1990 to help ward off government regulation from the record companies and the lyrics on the album. Senator Joseph Lieberman thinks the label means the record and/or lyrics on the record are "unsuitable for kids" (Sennah, par.6). The FTC has recently found out that one-third of the country's top selling CDs contain the sticker on the front. Also, they conducted a survey to find out how effective the sticker actually is, 74% of the parents who participated in the survey were either "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" (Sanneh, par.7).
Eminem also caused a ruckus when he appeared on the 2001 Grammies. His lyrics are said to offend women, motivate teens to violence and show his hate towards homosexuals. Eminem has groups of people against him and even a fund, called the Family Violence Prevention Fund, who tried to get people to boycott the viewing of the Grammies because of Eminem's performance. The failed boycott was called "Say No To Eminem." How creative. Gay and lesbian groups loathe him and Christians think he is morally corrupted.
Stores have also begun to censor and ban music. Wal-Mart and Kmart do not carry CDs with the PARENTAL ADVISORY sticker looking at you when you browse through the CD collection. These records are free of sex, cursing and violence. Wal-Mart banned a song by the group Prodigy called "Smack My B*tch Up" but on the other hand, they carry firearms. A Sheryl Crow song has also recently been banned from the store for containing the line "Watch our children kill each other with a gun they bought at Wal-Mart discount stores" ("Hear no Music"). I guess the Sheryl Crow ban was a believable one but if you weigh the choices, profanity vs. guns, there is no contest.
These are all things showing how censorship has gone too far. Many groups have been formed who are pro-censorship but there are a few groups against it. For example, Joint Artists and Music Promotions Action Committee was formed by the bassist of the popular punk group, Nirvana. When they first came out, they went through much controversy concerning lyrics and the type of music they played. The controversy continued up until the lead singer, Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1991. They fight people who say that just one type of music is not the only type that have controversial lyrics. Other than them, there are not really any groups who fight censorship.
I definitely believe that censorship in music has now gone too far.
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