The Censorship Of The Arts

five year old kid is cursing at them or trying to fight back at them.

The subject of censorship is a very controversial one, especially the banning of books. Many people believe they must protect themselves and others from the "evils" of many classic books and works of art because they can be deemed "indecent" in one way or another. Many believe that this is absurd and censorship in its current form is a violation of our First Amendment right to free speech. Personally, I align myself with the latter, however I do feel there are occasions where censorship is justifiable. The censorship of books is a division of censorship that, apart from Internet censorship, receives the most publicity. Banning books is the most popular form of such censorship. Many banned books are literary classics, such as The Catcher in

The First Amendment speaks on the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition; so important, they found their place in the US Constitution. Even with these freedoms meaning so much to the majority of America, somehow today we still encounter differences in political and religious views that seem to provoke people to act violently against a piece of art or even physically against the artist that created it such as in the recent case of artist Illma Gore. Often the violent action of destroying a work of art is “more offensive” than the image itself. We should allow artists free reign of subject matter as well as style and work together to prevent art desecration and violence through education of the arts. Censorship is the result of the fear of art. When the fear of art turns into iconoclasm or, rejection of a valued belief system, that fear becomes lack of government funding, desecration, and physical violence.

Censorship can be found all the way back to 443 BC, Rome. It was used in Greece, and a good government meant the people were shaped well. In order for the people to be well shaped they needed censorship, which is why it was such an important job. The first law for censorship did not become established until 300 AD in China (Newth). Frank states that many works of art have been changed and sometimes even erased because the content was not liked by people. The biggest reason why people do not like by people were for religious, social, or political reasons. Censorship was pushed artists’ freedom away by not letting them fully express their work. In 1565, Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel fresco was said to be unholy and wrong in the Catholic

     Today, in the 1990's, citizens in our society are being bombarded with obscene material from every direction. From the hate lyrics of Gun's 'N Roses to the satanic lyrics of Montley Crue and Marilyn Manson to the sexually explicit graphical content of today's movies, the issue is how much society is going to permit and where we, as a society, should we draw the line. The freedom of speech has always been considered a right, but that doesn't mean that you can shout, "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater. The real question is whether such material is harmful or dangerous to our society.

Censorship is “anti-creation” and “the censor’s lie actually succeeds in replacing the artist’s truth”. When something is censored, it is then “thought to have deserved censorship”. This shows that artists need to feel liberated to feel safe enough to be creative and not be silenced by people’s criticism. When something is censored it becomes attacked and starts to define the

Frequent topics of debate in our country pertain to our rights according to the constitution. Namely, freedom of speech and expression is often cause for controversy.

Censorship, is when a piece of art is monitored because the content is not appropriate for society or people of all ages. I believe that censorship hurts the artist and their right to freely express themselves.

As an essential part of culture, art is arguably at the core of culture, which naturally leads to the importance of art censorship in America’s Culture Wars. Also, decision for selecting art works which could own fellowship and funding reflected the conflict in politics between different parties and groups. So, the significance of censorship would be questioned and the standard of choosing some outstanding works to receive funds would be attacked in this American Culture war.

The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas,” (Griswold). Human instinct is to disagree, when disagreement occurs the opposing party is convinced that they are correct and want all resistance eliminated. In history whenever one disagrees they go head to head in a challenge to discover which argument is accurate, but in the end who is to decipher what ideas are wrong? Ideas should not be stifled because of disagreement; each idea has a place in society. In the course of history has the banning of books had more losses than success? What codified censorship was the 1873 Comstock Act, which called for the banning literature deemed sexually arousing, even indirectly. The Comstock Act banned transportation of any printed material including private letters that contained lecherous or lascivious material. Beginning in the 1950s, a series of U.S. Supreme Court cases helped change the scope of censorship laws in the United States (“Books Censorship”). Books have been banned from the beginning, before and after basic rights were established. The act of banning a book is extremely biased in the case of something offending one person might not offend another. “The invention of the printing press in Europe in the mid-15th century only increased the

The subject of censorship is a very controversial one, especially the banning of books. Many people believe they must protect themselves and others from the "evils" of many classic books and works of art because they can be deemed "indecent" in one way or another. Many believe that this is absurd and censorship in its current form is a violation of our First Amendment right to free speech. Personally, I align myself with the latter, however I do feel there are occasions where censorship is justifiable.

The argument for censorship centers on protecting the common good and public spaces. In cases of art, government officials have attempted to control what can and cannot be funded by cancelling exhibitions and forcing art institutions to not fund specific shows. However, David Joselit argues in his piece “Censorship is Regulation” that censorship also appears in less obvious ways. Joselit succinctly defends his thesis that art censorship comes in the form of social regulation not just dramatic and horrifying instances like the cancelation of Robert Mapplethorpe’s “The Perfect Moment” exhibition. To begin his essay, Joselit introduces three reasons that art institutes are dependent on social regulation in picking which art pieces to exhibit.

Throughout the years, music has evolved and transformed in many ways. However, there are restrictions in today’s music, otherwise known as, censorships. A crisis has emerged concerning the issue of censorship. This argument consists of two possible stances: one, supporting the continuation of censorship, and two, eliminating the status quo of censorships in the music industry. There have been countless debates and arguments regarding the issues of censorship ever since the U.S. Congress passed the Radio Act in 1927 (The History). The time has arrived for censorship to be brought to an end. The government should release their grip on the censorship of music for the following reasons: it obstructs the public’s freedom of choice, it

Being an artist regardless of the medium is all about creativity. Allowing someone step in to enforce rules strips away that creativity. Art is about expressing thoughts and feelings stifling creativity can be detrimental to one's health. People are encouraged throughout life to be creative. Only to be censored by someone if their art is deemed inappropriate is absurd! Igniting that flame, then removing it in the same breath because some might find its offense is counterproductive.

First, censorship may obstruct the Freedom of Creativity‬ of the artist, which will affect the development of the Art industry. The idea of the artworks is independent to the artist, who