Censor The Type Of Music Their Children example essay topic

Should Music be Censored? Once people hear about the United States they automatically relate the country to the word "freedom". Little do they know that this country has many similarities to countries where censorship plays a major role in their daily lives, due to their government. One of the major issues that involve censorship within the United States is the question whether or not music should be censored; and how will parents or the government decide at what age it is appropriate to allow children to listen to music pertaining profanity?

There are two sides to this issue; there are people who are for and there are those who are against censorship in music. At what point does action transcend from a matter of consumer choice to the matter of censorship? I think that the government and parents should not refrain their children from listening to different kinds of music, because once they do that, they deprive their children from knowing what's happening in our society. People that are for the issue of censorship are usually from the older generation. These people consist of government officials that have children of their own. They believe that music pertaining profanity is one of the main factors for the problems that occur in our society.

Such problems consist of an increase in violence and drug use amongst adolescents. An example was the incident that occurred at Columbine High School, where the media and others looked towards music as one of the causes for the incident. They feel that the music promotes sex, drugs, and violence. Critics believe that the children are not quite mature to listen to music with profanity in it. On the other side of the issue many people think, neither parent nor the government should censor the type of music their children listen to.

"By withholding art it goes against the first amendment that deals with freedom of speech, stated as; Congress shall make no law representing an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances (Graham)". Another reason why we should not have music censorship is because is that it makes people aware of what is going on in the world. It opens ideas, and brings a whole new meaning to "art". Music brings people together whether it's rap, rock, the blues or any other genre that might contain profane words within songs, because its art.

Through certain types of songs and lyrics many people might gain a sense of understanding towards one race or another's way of living. An example is children from the suburbs gain a sense of what life is like for some people (especially minorities) growing up in an urban area through rap music. Within the First Amendment the phrase " freedom of speech" goes hand in hand with music. So why do the government and some parents still have a great concern for censoring the music that their children listen to? It is a learning process. The people that tend to strive for a censorship are usually made up of communities, institutions, and corporate attempts to regulate society to their personal beliefs (Graham).

Once they attempt to censor music, children will find a way to get a hold of the song or CD regardless of the policy that the store has or how strict their parents are towards them. If a mother tells a child "don't touch that!" , the child automatically becomes curious of why they should not touch that specific item, and eventually the child will find a way to touch it; the same concept applies to censoring music. Another example is also seen in retail stores such as big department stores and small music retailers. When it comes to a variety of music small retailers is the place to go, while Kmart and Walmart has a certain guidelines to what CD's can be sold within their stores. According to Walmart: "it is the distributors and record companies that have the responsibility to identify the product as altered, not retailer" (Sonoma). This does not make any sense because it is a free country.

While people bicker about censoring music because it causes violence, well that's not true. First and foremost, countries that have the policy of censoring everything in site are facing civil wars. Did music lead them to war? During the medieval ages did music play a major role in beginning wars between the Barbadians or better yet the Holy War?

No it did not, so why do people think that music pertaining profanity is a major factor for sex, drugs and violence in today's society? "If you loose one hair, you aren't considered to be bald. The same is true if you lose one hundred hairs. At some point between a full head of hair and Mr. Clean, you become bald. The issue is that no one can tell you where that threshold lies. The same goes for music censorship" (Graham).

No one can actually say what is right and what is wrong, parents, the government, pastor, or teacher can give a definite answer on whether or not they should censor music.

Bibliography

Graham, Martha. "A Brief History of Banned Music in the United States- Introduction. web Steve. "Up against the Wal-mart: Rockers and Rappers claim censorship". web.