Censorship Gone Too Far

At what point has censorship gone too far? By simply allowing someone else to get censored, you give anyone the power to censor you or something you like. Censorship is the act of blocking “offensive” material. It is wrong due to the fact that it a prevention of creativity, unnecessary nuisance, and contradiction of rights..
Censorship in music is just not right. It goes against everything in society. Especially the 1st amendment, which states “Congress shall make (…) abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” (First Amendment) Not only is censorship restraining our freedom of speech but it is completely contradicting the 1st ammendment. Another reason it’s not right is it’s how the government controls people. A man once stated “withholding
of information only leads to ignorance in the society” and “Governments should not control people. It should be the other way round.” (Prabhakar. "Pros and Cons of Censorship.") The more the government censors, the more power and control they have. With this power all the people will become ignorant and will lose control. To add to that, think of other countries. Some people don’t have any access to the rest of the world. The government has completely blocked the outside out. Music is a way of rebellion and has the power of freedom. Besides it not being right, music censorship is overall a problem. In general it’s a nuisance to many. A prime example is the band Hollywood Undead. They wrote their debut album in under a year, but, they had to spend another two looking for a label that wouldn’t censor them. The album was release and was a big success. They could have had this sooner if it weren’t for people constantly trying to censor them. This relates to the fact that censorship makes jobs harder. Musicians lives get harder when they have limited content that they can produce. Also, DJs or other music broadcasters jobs gets complicated because they will have to find clean music to play. They can not express their own personal taste and if they do they may get trouble for it. In addition to all this, it prevents creative expression. As stated, because of censorship, many peoples opinions or preferences can no longer be expressed. There have been cases of teen depression where they say they couldn’t express themselves the way they wanted. Some “escape” or find it therapeutic to listen to music of their choice. They do something they like and stand out. Censoring music is causing more problems than the people ever thought it would. Why disrupt such an important part of culture?
Ever since time, there has been music. A single sound can be considered a beat or note. From rhythms, to singing, to written instrumentals, to vinyls, to tapes and compact discs, to mp3s and streaming. The evolution started long ago and will most likely never end. It has been passed down in every culture. Music is a place in which many groups of people with different beliefs can put that aside and join. Censorship is simply ruining that. Even more so, it tells stories. Music is a way of telling stories and passing them down the generations. The big time rapper, Eminem, may have explicit content, but all his music is based off personal experiences. Those who to tell true stories are the ones flagged. Furthermore, this isn’t the first time in history people have gone overboard with censorship. Many have gone to far censoring in the past and overreacted to “offensive” material. There will always be those who will fight and it’s better to accept
it. Some say censorship is necessary, which can be true, but still isn’t right.
9 out of 10 teens have mp3 a player (Under the Influence Of...Music?). Now a days, where kids have constant access to media. That and the fact that most parent don’t know what their kids are listening too. Combined, it seems as though they can be exposed to all types of inappropriate material outside their parents knowledge. Adults say this is where censorship is necessary, but in reality, this is where the parents should take charge. There are ways to monitor and limit what they listen to ; all you have to do is take action. It’s not so much as the need for censorship, but for better parenting. Another point is that some genres influence violent behavior. In some cases of outbursts or other strange behavior has music been the cause. What most people fail to include are the positive health benefits. Adam Ramsay, a notable health journalist, has proven music has the abilities of boosting mind power, increasing focus and energy, raising mental health, and the change of moods for the better. Even though some songs may make references to drugs or violence, that does not specifically mean the listen will become like that. It might in fact just be the opposite. On another note, some complain about how some song may have heavy racial content. It’s understandable how someone may not want to hear that and would want it covered. However, nobody is forcing them to hear it. If it comes up on the radio, turn it
off. If someone is listening to it near by, walk away. There are other solutions to this than forcing them to change their music. In addition to that, the song is how the artist feels. It is their words portraying a message they wanted to get across. It may not be your opinion of the subject matter but that gives nobody the right to censor them. No matter the situation, censorship is NOT the answer.