Censorship
English 111
October 27, 2013
Censorship
Have you ever been listening to the radio and heard a “beeeeep” in some parts of the song you’re listening to? You know, the annoying sound that interrupts the song? The sound is a familiar one among those of us that listen to the radio, in particular Rap/hip-hop music stations. This noise is heard because it’s used to bleep out/censor the word that was previously there; the word was most likely ‘bad’ or offensive. Censorship is a growing concern for our society, whether it’s because of the lack of censorship or too much.
To understand censorship, it’s important that you know exactly what it is. According to an article by Jonathan Alter, “Let’s Stop Crying Wolf on Censorship” he believes that too many people are classifying something as censorship when in fact it isn’t. “If a record-company executive or an art gallery owner or a book publisher declines to disseminate something, that's not censorship, it's judgment” (Alter 67) Alter wants to get a point across that you can’t just cry “Censorship” every time something is changed, which a lot of people are doing. He tries to connect editing an article and changing song lyrics, and identify them as essentially the same thing. “If an editor wants to change the text of an article about ghetto life, that's editing. But if a rap producer wants to change sociopathic lyrics, that's seen as censorship.” (67) If you think about this, it makes sense. How would an editor wanting to change an article be classified any differently than a rap producer wanting to change lyrics? Why is changing the lyrics seen as censorship, but changing the article seen as editing? Alter also makes a strong point that censorship is induced solely by the government, “Real censorship is when the government--the government--bans books in school libraries, prosecutes artists and writers for their work, seizes pornography, exercises prior restraint.” (67)
After reading all of this you might start to
October 27, 2013
Censorship
Have you ever been listening to the radio and heard a “beeeeep” in some parts of the song you’re listening to? You know, the annoying sound that interrupts the song? The sound is a familiar one among those of us that listen to the radio, in particular Rap/hip-hop music stations. This noise is heard because it’s used to bleep out/censor the word that was previously there; the word was most likely ‘bad’ or offensive. Censorship is a growing concern for our society, whether it’s because of the lack of censorship or too much.
To understand censorship, it’s important that you know exactly what it is. According to an article by Jonathan Alter, “Let’s Stop Crying Wolf on Censorship” he believes that too many people are classifying something as censorship when in fact it isn’t. “If a record-company executive or an art gallery owner or a book publisher declines to disseminate something, that's not censorship, it's judgment” (Alter 67) Alter wants to get a point across that you can’t just cry “Censorship” every time something is changed, which a lot of people are doing. He tries to connect editing an article and changing song lyrics, and identify them as essentially the same thing. “If an editor wants to change the text of an article about ghetto life, that's editing. But if a rap producer wants to change sociopathic lyrics, that's seen as censorship.” (67) If you think about this, it makes sense. How would an editor wanting to change an article be classified any differently than a rap producer wanting to change lyrics? Why is changing the lyrics seen as censorship, but changing the article seen as editing? Alter also makes a strong point that censorship is induced solely by the government, “Real censorship is when the government--the government--bans books in school libraries, prosecutes artists and writers for their work, seizes pornography, exercises prior restraint.” (67)
After reading all of this you might start to
Cited: Benesch, Connie. "The Good, the Bad and the Censored." Billboard 106.48 (1994): 42-44 Blanchard, Becky. "The Social Significance of Rap & Hip-Hop Culture." (1999): n. pag. Stanford Schneider, Christopher K. “Culture, RapMusic, “Bitch,” and the development of the Censorship Frame.” American Behavioral Scientist 55 (2011):35-56 Peterson, Richard A. “Taking Popular Music too Seriously.” Journal of Popular Culture. 4.3 (2004): 590-594. Web. 19 Oct. 2013.