What |
There is a lot of dispute over what censorship is exactly. Censorship is when a person, an organization, or a government decides that something is unfit or obscene and keeps everyone else from reading, having, seeing, listening to, or buying it. | |
What |
* When rap group 2 Live Crew was found guilty of distributing harmful matter
to minors because of their "As Nasty As We Wanna Be" album, they were restricted
of their right to free speech as guaranteed in the Bill Of Rights. After the
2 Live Crew trial, one police officer in Broward County, Florida said he'd bust
anyone caught listening to 2 Live Crew in their own car! THIS IS CENSORSHIP!
* When Tipper Gore & Hillary Clinton's Parent Music Resource Center got the major record labels like Warner Bros., Elektra, Atlantic, MCA, and Polydor to start record labeling with the ever noticable "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" stickers, they successfully censored many heavy metal and rap albums from large chain record stores. This may not seem to be linked up, but it is. You see, Tipper Gore has very close connections wil the Religious Right. When the Tipper Stickers went on to the albums, they made it possible for the Religious Right to go behind closed doors and have albums pulled off the shelf. What the Religious Right does is go to these large chain record stores that reside only in chain strip malls and say, "We want all albums with a Parental Advisory sticker off the shelf, or we'll picket your whole mall as a smut vendor. Well, unless the store wants to go out of business, they remove the albums, successfully making them unavailable to the public. THIS IS CENSORSHIP! * When Mighty Mouse sniffed a bouquet of flowers and the flowers went up his nose, Reverend Donald Wildmon had the cartoon taken off the air because Mighty Mouse was "supporting cocaine abuse"! THIS IS CENSORSHIP! | |
Some |
* One easy way to fight censorship is to avoid major record
store chains. Stores like Blockbuster Music are notorious for censoring
"obscene" music and spoken word albums. Try buying your records, cassettes,
compact discs, laser discs, and video tapes at independant record stores.
If they don't have what you want, don't go across the street to Blockbuster,
ask them to order it. If they can't order it, it either doesn't exist anymore
or they aren't a store worth going to!
* Keep your ears open for events happening around you. Most censorship happens behind closed doors, but every once in a while, it is extremely obvious. (Body Count's "Cop Killer" immediately comes to mind!) * Of course, the best and easiest way to fight censorship is to make sure that people know that it's happening. A lot of people think that what they don't know can't hurt them, but they are definitely wrong. Ignorance may be bliss to them, but for the rest of us, it's fatal. It is essential that people not forget that they need to have some control over their own existence before religious fanatics and reactionaries leave us wondering why we only hear Green Day and Barbara Streisand over and over again (not that there is anything wrong with either of those two artists)! | |
Recommended |
"No More Cocoons", Jello Biafra Spoken Word Album #2. Available at most Tower Records stores.
"I Blow Minds For A Living", Jello Biafra Spoken Word Album #3. Available at most Tower Records stores. "Beyond The Valley Of The Gift Police", Jello Biafra Spoken Word Album #4. Available at most Tower Records stores. | |
Current |
On December 19, 1996, the National Association of Broadcasters, represented by
Jack Valenti
of the Motion Picture Association of America,
revealed its new TV ratings system. This new ratings system ranges from 
(Program is designed to be appropriate for all children) through
(Program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable
for children under 17). The most important part of this system, however, is the fact
that V-Chip equipped televisions (which will hit the market next year) will be able to
block programs based on these ratings.
Although it may not seem like it, ratings systems lend themselves to censorship,
since broadcasters want to reach the largest audience possible. This means that
producers may be forced by executives to tone down program content in order to be
rated With the new V-Chip installed in televisions, the FCC has absolutely no reason to control what the broadcast industry decides to show. Parents should rightfully regain control of what their children can be exposed to. The FCC, subsequently, has no grounds for controlling content on television. Now is the time to act! In order to repeal the FCC's rules, write your Congressmen, Senators, local TV stations, the National Associtation of Broadcasters, and the FCC itself. Together we can rid the world of unnecessary and obtrusive censorship. For a complete definition of the new Television Ratings system, check out the TV Parental Guidlines Web Site. | |
Other |
Please check out some of the other sites on my Lynx page! |
(Program may contain some material that many parents would find unsuitable
for children under 14 years of age) instead of