People The Type Of Music example essay topic

March 8, 2001 English 102 Synthesis paper Racism, hate, sex, drugs, and profanity are among many things people encounter in everyday life whether they want to or not. The one thing that people do have control over is what kind of music they listen to and to take that right away from anyone would be more offensive than having the president of the United States of America get oral sex in the oval office, one of the most honored places in the country. People get more worked up over the things in life that mean nothing, than worrying about crucial issues. Our society can tolerate watching parents smack their children in Wal-Mart more than they can stand to hear a curse word, or a sexual comment in a song. Music is an expression of the artist and should be treated as that.

Censoring music is like telling Michelangelo he could not put the penis on "David". The truth is that censoring music is an action that goes against the constitution of the United States of America and although some content may offend people, prohibition of freedom of expression violates the rights of more than those offended. In a democracy, there is absolutely no chance to please everyone but taking away their rights as citizens will upset even more of the population. Under the first amendment of the constitution it states that congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech; or of the press (web 1). Without this amendment our country would practically be under communist ruling, one of the major issues this country is against.

This amendment gives people the right to voice their opinion and speak out in what they do and do not believe in and gives them the right to express themselves. Expression equals art and there is no question that music is an art form. The act of censoring music is the same as if we told Picasso what colors he could or could not use. 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). "Every person has the right to choose what they will and will not listen to. If they feel that the music is not of their tastes, and or find it offensive, then they will choose not to listen to it" (1). Most of the people who are offended by certain music genres usually do not listen to that type of music nor do they let their children.

The music industry is forced to put "explicit lyric" labels on any music that contains profanity, racism, strong sexuality, or anything that could be offensive. This is a great way to inform consumers of what type of material is on an album. Parents have complete and total responsibility over their children and what they do, or listen to until the age of eighteen. The labels are an excellent way of letting parents know the content of a record and not filtering any of the artist's ideas.

This still allows the artist to create the music that he / she wants without any barriers. Taking away the right for individuals to choose their own music could only cause more problems then ones solved. Most of the population would be outraged if they could not choose what they listen to. For many people the type of music they listen to is a way of expressing themselves.

More times than not it is fairly easy to tell what kind of music a person listens to by the way they dress and present themselves. For many, taking away their right to choose would also take away their identity. Most people who are pro-censorship want to censor what their children listen to or are exposed to, so they look to the government for the answer when they should be the ones who decide what their children listen to. Why should the government baby-sit everyone's children for them? The parents of these children should take the responsibility of controlling their kids. It is unrealistic to think that the government, who has an uncontrollable problem with drugs and other black market items, could keep the children from being exposed to the music anyway.

People within the United States are given the right to choose and express themselves. This country was built on the ideas that offended the British Empire and if they were silenced there would not be the nation there is today ( . carl... 2).