Censorship
Freedom of speech was one of the rights our founding fathers put into the United States Constitution, right? Then why is the United States government trying to regulate what we hear through music censorship? Society blames current Music trends for disfunctional behavior among teens and demands censorship of the artist's product, which is protected by the first amendment. There are quite a few good reasons why people are for or against music censorship. Some authority says that crime is influenced by music. Believe it or not, there have been cases when musicians have been arrested for the music they produce. There are a lot of strict laws that ban certain types of music in America and other countries as well. What is the difference between when rock and roll first came out and modern music today? It was a rebellion then and it's a rebellion now. There are many different people with many different opinions about music censorship. If this is supposed to be a free country, then why is the government controlling what we are listening to? Before our country was born, our country's lives were controlled by England. The people didn't believe they had the freedom they believed was the god given right to man. Our founding
How can music really actually alter someone's mind into doing something? That is a commonly asked question among anti music censorship people. Nick Davis, an eighteen year old said, "kids with evil intentions are not influenced by evil music." "Censoring music would not prevent them from committing evil crimes." A nineteen year old, Zack Ouradnic said, "surroundings, family interactions and the character of my friends influence me much more then any music ever could." "When I listen to music, I don't take the words literally, its an art." Aaron Krumnow has an opinion shared by many. "censorship laws will create a slippery slope and bring uncomfortable scrutiny to areas of other American culture." "If the government wants to censor music because of its 'negative influence', then other forms of art and entertainment should be censored also." Lyrical content cannot be blamed exclusively for criminal behavior. Everyone listens to music, so it is just an easy target to put blame on for the dark sides of America. (Franke Interview) (Golabek) (Nuzum) (Ullenberg) Parents also complain a lot about what their kids are listening to. When it comes down to parenting problems caused by music, its only the parents who can be blamed. Any type of music with questionable lyrics have a parental advisory sticker on them. Anyone under eighteen cannot buy these albums. Therefore, a parent has to be there when a child buys these albums. On top of all this, there are edited versions with the profanity and questionable lyrics cut out available everywhere. If a parent randomly looked through their kids music and took away anything that has a parental advisory sticker on it, they would be able to keep "bad music" from their kids. No matter what they say, parents do have control over what their kids listen to if the parents want to take the time to look through their music collection periodically. Today's music is extremely controversial. There are so many different types of music today that its hard to point fingers at any one certain style for corruption. Although rap is the most targeted, all sorts of music have been accused of having provocative content from rock and roll to rap to country. Music is a form of expression. Hence, musicians are expressing themselves through their music with content such as race, religion, politics, sex, violence and rebellion which they put into their lyrics. Music has been around since the beginning of time, but for how much more time will music exist if our government interferes with it? The candidates for the 2000 presidential election, George W Bush and Al Gore both had views on music censorship. In several campaigns, the two candidates discussed the popular rapper Eminem, his violent and racially charged lyrics, lyrics that have caused a lot of controversy with the public, his wife's suicide attempt and the lawsuit between him and his mother. Once again that same question is brought up, that question is, "is censorship the answer to the tastelessness, racial insensitivity and violent behavior among young people?" Both candidates thought that music censorship would help to some degree. Both of them have promised that if they get elected they will push for the legislation that would make record companies make harder rules on what they produce and music stores and distributors make tighter rules on who they sell to. On the other hand, Al Gore's wife, Tipper Gore is opposed to censorship. She is on of the founders of the Parents Music Resource Center, a pro labeling lobby. She says, "this is our solution, w
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Approximate Word count = 2430
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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