America Censored: A Battle of Rights Essay

Others believe that music should not be censored because it would infringe on the artist’s right to freedom of speech, but music containing explicit lyrics should be criticized for their negative content. Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas delivered a speech to the City Club of Cleveland. In his speech he discusses how music has a major affect on youth, and how crimes among teenagers have increased greatly, since music with explicit lyrics have been out on the market. He also expresses that music should not be censored, because the artist have the right to say what they want in their lyrics, but society also had the right to criticize the explicit lyrics in their music. (1-9) The right to freedom of speech is given to all people under the bill of rights. If people weren’t allowed to speak what they felt this country would not be where it is today.

     Many people believe that music should be filtered because it provokes violence or sex within society. There may be some truth in this but for the most part it is merely myth. People who have any common sense or are not legally insane can understand fact from fiction and what not to imitate. Anyone who listens to Eminem and decides to go and kill their wife should have been locked up long before the actual crime. When people do things that resemble what an artist says in a song, it is usually by pure coincidence and all are negative incidents. Frank Zappa was quoted to have said “I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone’s teeth get cleaner?”(Jackson 1).

     Since this country was founded, we have had a set of unalienable rights that our constitution guarantees us to as Americans. One of the most important rights that is mentioned in our constitution is the right to free speech. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the

One example is from popular rapper 50 Cent. He has been one of the most popular rappers since 2003, selling over 3 million albums in that same year. He describes how he handles someone disrespecting him in the song “What Up Gangsta,” from his album “Get Rich or Die Tryin.” ; “Front on me / I’ll cut ya, gun but ya, or buck [shoot] ya….” 50 Cent goes on to brag about how he is not the type of man to be arrested for nothing “I’m not the type to get knocked for D.W.I. / I’m the type that kill your connect when the coke price rise….” These violent scenes are described in this verse along with many others; glorifying the violence that is associated with the rapper

The United States of America seems to be protected by a very important historical document called the Constitution. Despite the fact that it was written and signed many years ago, the American people and their leaders still have faith in the Constitution. One of the major statements of the Constitution is the First Amendment, freedom of speech. Although it is difficult to decide what is offensive and what is not, it is clear to see that songs of rape, violence, bigotry, and songs containing four letter words are completely unnecessary for susceptible minds to acknowledge. It is reasonable to say that more people listen to music everyday and for that reason, music tends to be more influential. The American

Who determined content, and how, became the issue as demonstrated by the treatment of the 1992 album "Death Certificate" by the "Gangsta" rapper, Ice Cube. This album was determined to be so profane that Billboard Magazine asked merchandisers to refuse to sell or advertise it. Ice Cube's British label, Island Records, then edited two of the album's tracks before selling it and without obtaining permission from Ice Cube to alter his recording. In one of these edited songs, "No Vaseline", Ice Cube raps about his former N.W.A. bandmates with lyrics such as " Yo Dre… you been a dick, Eazy-E saw your ass and went in it quick. "Tried to dis Ice Cube but it wasn't worth it, cause the broomstick fits your ass so perfect."

Censorship on television in the United States has been an issue ever since the television was invented. The public holds a variety of stances on the topic, and no matter what law is ever passed regarding censorship, it will never suit the needs of everyone. Some believe that censorship violates individual rights in the law, and others believe that censorship should be available through members in the family, not the government. On the other hand, some people strive to maintain government regulation of censorship. Television censorship is significant because it holds the future of our country. If channels continue to be censored, our rights will be violated. If not, then the future generations may change

Censorship within the United States is not only an immoral and "big-brotherly" practice, but also an insult to each and every one of those who call themselves US citizens. Every day, censors attempt to sanitize TV, radio, music, print, and even the Internet. In their infinite wisdom, they deem what should and should not be viewed by John Q. Public. Censors succeed in suppressing our free spirits and restraining our thoughts in virtually every medium.

In what ways has censorship played a role in changing the conceptions of the American Dream? First let’s start by clarifying what the American Dream actually is. Deepening the American Dream is a “project that engenders a rediscovered sense of community in our society and empowers our capacities to receive and relate to those we think of as other” (fetzer.org). Censorship has played way too many roles in messing with the way people think. One way is through the media. Censorship in the media is a big deal. The government only tries to get us to see what they want us to see. They really don’t want us to know the truth or reality, so they give us the half-truth or a version they think would make better sense to us.

When listening to the radio, most people come across a song that has been changed from its original version, whether certain words are beeped out, or a string of lyrics are replaced altogether. This is censorship, and it is very common on the radio. It is also very controversial. People don’t agree what should be censored or if anything should be censored at all. However, we believe that censorship is a good thing. Censorship allows offensive music to be altered so that it is not offensive anymore. It also prevents younger children from being exposed to harsh and inappropriate content in a society where access to music is growing. The positives of censorship outweigh the negatives by far.

So overall, Music has it’s own particular area of censorship which is unique and flawed in it’s own way. Although there have been some more recent changes in music to support the freedom of artists, the past has been condemning and rough for artists to easily “express,” themselves through their

Censorship in music has been a major problem plaguing America since the early nineteen forties. It came to a head during the nineteen sixties with the Vietnam War and the hippie movement. During the nineteen seventies and eighties heavy metal and hard rock were getting the brunt of the censorship heat. Now in the nineteen nineties the major focus of censorship is rap; primarily gangster rap. Some of the main factors of music in general that cause legal ramifications are sexual content, suggestive violence and obscene language. Censorship is an attack against our first amendment right guaranteeing the freedom of speech. However if a song or album is deemed obscene the first amendment does not protect this.

Magazines can do the same things and on the Internet, you are allowed to post almost anything you want. Yet you rarely find any restrictions on these forms of expressions. Books can depict things like drugs, sex, violence, hate, and have swear words, yet books are not banned in stores or censored. To me, music is the same thing as a book. Artists have the same right as an author to sing what they want and not have to suffer by having their material disallowed. The Rolling Stones released a song, ?Can?t Get No Satisfaction,? which was never played on many stations in the early 1970?s because it depicted sexual actions, yet at the same time there were magazines like Playboy and books that could have been about sex that did not receive the same attention. Music is like any book because it can talk about any subject in any way they want, which follows the right of freedom of speech. I also raise the question concerning the right to organize and have parades. Artists are being banned and led into oblivion because of swear words yet we see Neo Nazi and KKK parades. They go around holding posters with slurs and insults and screaming offensive things. Yet, these things happen often and nothing is done to try to stop them or ban them. The reason is because they have the right to do this which is stated in the Constitution have the right to express what they want without being persecuted or punished. If these events are allowed to happen then why

Most popular music today is driven by violence and sex. These musicians put out albums that glorify violence and promote causal sex. When the albums are being produced, the artist does not think of how it will affect the perspective merchant. When

Censorship may be protection from inappropriate materials, but it also limits free speech. For the limitation of free speech, it is reasonable why people are emphatically against censorship. It is understood that there is a need to filter some of the materials released in today’s society, but too much is being done by people who have no right meddling with everyone’s rights. Civilization has always been plagued by a never ending battle being fought over what is deemed right and wrong. In today’s culture, censorship oppresses everything in the media. From movies and music to television and even news stories, most of the content viewed today has been filtered one way or another. Restrictions have been in place since early societies have been