Should Artists have Total Freedom of Expression?
Laws about obscenity, libel, slander and official secrets restrict freedom of expression, yet society’s understanding of what is offensive often needs to be clarified by the courts. Personal freedom requires the exercise of judgement even if law limits it.
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers” and “ The exercise of these freedoms may be subject to such
…restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law…for the protection of the health or morals…or
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* Should great artists and works of art face the same restrictions that apply to lesser ones?
Conflict inevitably exists between what the creative artist needs to say and what an audience wants to hear. Artistically and culturally, many people are conservative and easily offended by what is different or new. Moral judgements may simply disguise lack of artistic taste and poor judgement. Artists, by definition creative, look for new things to say and new ways in which to say them. However, not all innovations are great art or improve society. Do demands for artistic freedom simply seek to justify inferior work and disguise lack of talent? Those making ethical rather than cultural judgements about artistic freedom should consider: -
* How will society benefit?
* What are the artist’s underlying motives? Does he/she seek to challenge, offend or explore?
* What are the motives of the audience? Does it seek to appreciate, judge or find fault?
* Would restrictions remove an artist’s right to choose?
“In New York at the Brooklyn Museum an exhibition called the
Sensations erupted a mushroom cloud of criticism and controversy
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The further you stand away, the clearer the image becomes, but if you get close, you realize that those are not brush-strokes or even ink splatters, they’re handprints. Small handprints. You gaze up at the piece as it towers above you and realize the artist created the piece using plaster casts, made from the hands of little children. In its homeland, this piece incited such rancour in people that they would physically attack the canvas
Another part of the works of Marcus Harvey are a series of rich, textural paintings based on the photography of amateur photos of reader's wives and mistresses sent to cheap porno magazines. In addition to exacting textile patterns for the backgrounds, the women are illustrated with lavish brush-strokes, rich colours, and frantic movements that always imply motion. In this series of painting, Harvey combines abstract impressionism and porn, mating high and low art in a single piece, highlighting simultaneously both the objectifying of women and also the power and sway they hold over men via the most base emotions. Is Marcus Harvey pushing the barrier? Is his freedom to
The issues surrounding the voter ID law have been shrouded in controversy. The voter ID law is a law that require voters to show a valid form of photo identification before receiving a ballot to vote. It has been said to protect the integrity of the electoral ballots, but many feel as though the voter ID law was made to favor those who are more conservative than those who are more liberal in their view on the government. This may be due to the fact that polling stations will only accept valid government issued photo IDs and weapons permits, not including college IDs. This new law also may be disenfranchising towards minorities. Many are calling it a poll tax on minority voters, creating an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote. Others
Control is dominating over something or someone. The reason people want control is because control is power. Masculinity is always associated with power and control, while femininity is associated with passivity and weakness. As Allan Johnson states this is related to the fact that “male dominance creates power differences between men and women” (248). So because of the fact that men hold positions of power they seem more superior to women creating these stereotypes about each gender. The reason this is importa...
In contrast, men have been seen as more dominate than women because of their masculine abilities and other traits and most importantly their profound responsibility of being the provider and head of the household. Americans constantly uses theses two distinct stereotypes that in many cases present many biases regarding gender codes in America. Things have changed over time the women are no longer just house wives taking care of the house and children waiting for their husband to come home from his nine to five occupations. Andrea L. Miller explains in her article “The Separate Spheres Model of Gendered Inequality” that, “A common theme in the study of gender is the idea that men and women belong in distinct spheres of society, with men being particularly fit for the workplace and women being particularly fit for the domestic domain” (Miller 2). Miller gives two very specific examples on how gender is viewed in American
Music is one of the most popular ways of expression and has been for generations. It makes us want to dance, inspires, soothes, relaxes, and sometimes tells us a story. Music is something the whole world shares and has brought together different kinds of people. However, there has been a question on whether some music has affected society negatively and crossed the line with some of its lyrics, content, and the persona of the artists. Certain music has been boycotted and even banned in the U.S. Pro-censorship supporters say that music is something that can deeply affect our society especially children who should not have to be subjected to things like violence, sex, drugs, or hate. However, being that music is a form of expression, censoring it would just be violating everyone's right to freedom of speech and expression.
The fact that men generally have controlled much of societies resources and held positions of power throughout history have led women to be subject to gender inequality. In general, men tend to have more power and privilege than women who are in the same or lower social class. However, studies have found that women in higher social standing are more likely to have more power and privilege than men in a lower social class. The conflict theorist approach to gender sheds a lot of light on why women earn lower salaries, face discrimination, and sexual harassment. In ancient societies, men had a biological advantage of both physically being stronger than their female counterparts and not having to carry a biological offspring. From the perspective of conflict theorist, the fact that female’s are biologically built to carry offsprings puts them at a huge disadvantage. A pregnancy limits a female’s mobility and therefore makes her dependent on another person to hunt for food and provide shelter. Therefore, the male is given a lot of power as he is the one that is responsible for the basic elements to survive. In a perfect world, the male or father would be kind, generous, and thoughtful in his pursuit to ensure the survival of his female spouse and offspring. However, in a world driven by conflict theory it is easy to see how a male bestowed with so much power could abuse it. In
decisions of women affect how they are viewed by men, causing them to become subject to
President Lincoln’s address has proved to be one of the most important and influential public addresses in our nation’s history. The Gettysburg Address is composed of only ten sentences and around 270 words. President Lincoln delivered this speech on November 19, 1863, on one of the most important battlefields in the war. This document is also one of the key documents in American History. This speech was a powerful, poem like address about a war that was fought by our fathers and brothers against our fathers and brothers. It was also a dedication to the Gettysburg Cemetery that commemorates our fallen soldiers and a war that divided our country. Even after the speech the Civil War still raged on and Lincoln realized that he also had to inspire the people to continue the fight. The idea Lincoln is trying to persuade the audience to support is that we must dedicate ourselves to a preservation of a united nation and a new birth of freedom.
In the year of 1863 Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that was admirable for its content. This speech send a message to the nation, it showed that it had to become more open mind and soon be a nation within liberty. In Abraham’s Lincoln message he considered one of the most important thing to do was to finish the unfinished, to show devotion and to have a new birth for the nation.
He used his address to state the meaning of the Civil War. He honored the Union soldiers and the purpose of their sacrifice. He included the quote, “all men are created equal,” in his speech. This quote addressed the prospect of human equality and the sacrifices made for freedom in the Civil War. Many people were inspired by this speech. Read the full Gettysburg Address here
“Four score and seven years ago….” These words formed the beginning of Abraham Lincoln’s well-known speech, the Gettysburg Address, given at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863. Although, the Gettysburg Address is much greater than those few words. The Gettysburg Address expressed Abraham Lincoln’s ideas on the preservation of the United States, similar to the ideas in Daniel Wester’s speeches and in those by the Founding Fathers.
Although Anheuser-Busch governs the brewery industry top management also sought to dominate the craft beer market. Their endeavors were rewarded when Red Hook beer sold company stock to Busch. This mutual agreement was beneficial to Red Hook because it offered opportunities for them to serve a larger customer base, increased their distribution suppliers and provided additional brewery locations. Anheuser-Busch attacked the evolution of microbreweries with “gusto” therefore, forever shaping the revolution of craft beer makers.
Many have claimed that laws, such as requiring an ID to vote, are designed to prevent voter fraud. If this is true than voter fraud must be a significant problem and there should be evidence that such measures will greatly reduce fraud, however, this is not the case. Political scientist and author Lorraine Minnite reports her analysis of voter fraud in the United States in her book, Myth of Voter Fraud, and comes to the conclusion that, " ... criminal voter fraud is episodic and rare relative to the total number of votes in a given year or election cycle" (Minnite, 57). Other research has also found that laws requiring voters to present ID or proof of citizenship does not prevent the most common forms of voter fraud. In an article analyzing the effectiveness of voter ID laws, the author cites research conducted by the News21 pertaining to all reported cases of election fraud since 2000, they found that "14 percent involved absentee ballot fraud. Voter impersonation, the form of fraud that voter ID laws are designed to prevent, made up only 3.6 percent of those cases. (Other types included double voting, the most common form, at 25 percent, and felons voting when they were prohibited from doing so. But neither of those would be prevented by voter ID laws, either)"
Voter identification can prevent impersonation fraud at the polls, voting under fictitious voter registrations, double voting, and voting by undocumented individuals. Not only can voter identification prevent fraudulent voting, but has not reduced voter turnout across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines. In Indiana, the state with the strictest voter identification laws, saw an increase in voter turnout in the Democratic presidential preference primary in 2008 from the 2004 election when the photo identification law was not in effect. Spakovsky also refutes the claim that voter identification is of the same nature of that of a “poll tax” by arguing that a federal court dismissed this claim, pointing out that such an “argument represents a dramatic overstatement of what fairly constitutes a ‘poll tax’”. The United States is one of nearly one-hundred democracies without uniform voter photo-identification requirements, all of which administer the law without issue. Spakovsky concludes that requirement voter identification can be easily met, is supported by the vast majority of voters of various races and ethnic backgrounds, and provides security for
Lisa Hill a professor at the University of Adelaide who spreads the yes, in mandatory voting, “If voting were mandatory in the U.S., people would be inspired to pay more attention to campaigns... ” (Junior Scholastic). Many might think their vote doesn't count, so government should express how it does and not make it a unpleasurable activity by making it mandatory. However much, there is truth in that point, an election simplifies down to one person over another other. My point still stands that unwanted force is never good and America should not accept that. It is human nature to show displeasure to forced activities that weren't done by will before hand. It isn't convenient for some citizens, and if registering for voting was much easier that there might be a higher voter turnout (Scholastic Magazine).If the government wants a higher turnout, than people shouldn't be making time for the government, the government should make more time for the people and not stripping us of our freedom.
Patriarchy is a social system in which families and societies are dominated by males as primary authority figures. Due to patriarchy, females have been disadvantaged in many aspects of life including employment, family life, crime, health, education and media. This has led sociologists to try and find out what causes gender inequality. Feminists would agree that patriarchy is the main cause of gender inequality, however, there are different strands of feminism and these different strands have different views. There are also other theorists, such as functionalists, Weberians and postmodernists who offer different views as to the causes of gender inequality.