The Negative Impact of Media Censorship

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Every human possesses some guaranteed basic freedoms and rights, whether it is the freedom of speech, or the freedom to express themselves. However, the government seems to be increasingly determined to limit these freedoms using censorship to confine these rights that we usually take for granted. The most important facet of media in general is that it allows people to express themselves freely. In fact, this freedom of expression that music allows us is one of the primary reasons why it exists. Sadly, many of the current artists have forgotten that, but nonetheless, censorship seems to always be there to limit the expression of those who choose to place deeper messages in their songs. Tackling censorship is much more important than it appears to be at the surface; to take down censorship would help preserve the expression of thought. It would help preserve the right to listen to the unaltered forms of everything. Most importantly, it would help preserve the rapidly weakening basic right of speech. Censorship has always altered the lives of many people, whether they know it or not. People are constantly exposed to the censored version of entertainment. The movies they watch, the music they listen to, and the games they play have all first been screened through different rating systems to find anything in them that can be interpreted as “obscene”. Once someone finds something, the creator of the work has no choice but to delete, edit, and basically censor the offending portion, otherwise it never gets to see the light of public consumption. Censorship has been used for all different kinds of works, for all different kinds of reasons. The many examples of album covers provided at TabooTunes show different types ... ... middle of paper ... ...ip." Tabootunes.com - Music Censorship. Web. 17 May 2010. . This gallery was not one of taboo songs as much as taboo album covers, giving a new outlook on music-related censorship. The gallery also shows another method censorship could be used to limit creativity. Walden, Brian. "BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Free Society Still Has Limits." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. 10 Feb. 2006. Web. 16 May 2010. . This articles brings lyrics from a song that was previously considered offensive, which is now clean by today’s standards, and effectively argues for freedom of speech. Yee, Danny. "Music Censorship in Australia." Danny Yee's Page. Web. 27 May 2010. . Uses a quote from the source which illustrates the “elite” nature of censorship.

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