Censor This!

Censorship of the arts and media has been a rather controversial issue these past years and still has yet to be resolved. While there are certain laws that give artists the permission to express themselves freely, there are still people who oppose these laws and/or ideas. Censorship is defined as the act of “removing or suppressing that which is considered to be morally, politically or otherwise objectionable in books, films and other material” (Oxford Reference English Dictionary 236). However, we are still uncertain as to who is qualified to decide what is acceptable to society and what is not. As well as being inequitable to artists as artists, since it reduces the meaning and impact of their art, censorship is also unfair to them as citizens since it violates their right to freedom of speech, which is stated in part I of the Canadian Bill of Rights (Canadian Bill of Rights). Not only is censorship technically against the law, there are also many other factors that suggest that censorship is wrong. For ethical, economical and social reasoning, any censorship of the arts and media should be discontinued.

The strongest line of ethical reasoning is that when it comes to violence and profanity in the media and in the arts, it is simply up to the consumer to choose whether to accept it or not. If you don’t like it, disregard it. One cannot expect writers, directors, filmmakers, artists and journalists to censor their artistic and academic creations, which carry their ideology and artistic and intellectual expression. It is entirely up to the individual to decide what to watch, read or listen to. Furthermore, when art is censored, it takes away from the arts’ significance and meaning. It also misrepresents the artist’s message, meaning that you are not entirely experiencing what the artist originally intended for you to experience.

Many people argue that the aggressive behavior portrayed in the media is the reason that our society, especially our youth, has grown to become violent and corrupt. However, while the media does, in reality, display violent behaviour, it is part of our lives and very often is relevant to the human and artistic experience. The media cannot be blamed for acts of violence that have occurred in the past, such as, the most devastating school shooting in U.S. history, the Columbine School shooting in April 1999. Two student gunmen killed 13 people, students and faculty, and wounded 21 others before they turned the guns on themselves. Following the shooting, investigators discovered that the two students were affiliated with violent movies and music and suggested that this was most likely the cause of their actions (Portal 1). However, anyone who seriously believes that the music that these two listened to or the movies that they watched were the reasons that they did what they did is severely mistaken.

When incidents like the Columbine shooting occur, it’s because the people involved are of a corrupt nature; they may suffer from emotional disturbances caused by problems at home, lack of love and attention from their parents and/or a weak education system failing to help children distinguish between what is right and what is wrong (“Media Issues-Violence”). Media images may have given the shooters symbols to express their rage and frustration, but the media certainly did not create their rage and frustration. Parents have the responsibility of protecting their children from what they feel is inappropriate. It is unreasonable for parents to accuse the media of demeaning their children since it is they who have the power to divert their children from the profanity in the media. All of this goes to show that censorship is ethically unfair to those who can choose to view, read or listen to whatever they please and are mature enough to use their own judgment and draw their own conclusions. Censorship will not solve the root causes of violence in our society. It is up to us as individuals to take responsibility for our own actions and to stop blaming others for our mistakes.

Censorship of the arts and media can also create an economic disadvantage. When the public sees that a movie, album, exhibition, book or play has been labeled as inappropriate, they stay away from it, causing an economic recession. In North America, in 2001, two thirds of Hollywood movies were rated “R” and foreign marketers invested 1.9 billion dollars in movies and television in Canada alone. In 2002, multi-platinum recording artist Eminem’s album The Eminem Show, promoting violent lyrics, made over 3 million dollars US in it’s first month of sales. In September 2002, the ultra-violent Grand Theft Auto 3 became the second most popular game in the world. The game was initially banned in Australia for its graphic violence