Persuasive Essay
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- Date Submitted: 04/05/2010 02:22 PM
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Censorship of Music
It clearly states in the first amendment that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances," however, censorship in America still exists in a huge way. "Music censorship is the term used to describe the act of editing, altering, or preventing the listener from hearing the music as the artist created it in order to either deny certain information or to act as a moral gatekeeper of potentially harmful material"
(http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~barndollar/courses/spring98/students/fabfive/index.html).
The Censorship of music in the United Stated dates as far back as 1951, when "Radio stations ban Dottie O'Brien's "Four or Five Times" and Dean Martin's "Wham Bam, Thank You Ma'am" fearing they are suggestive.” Then, in 1954, Ruth Thompson introduced a bill in the House that would ban mailing of any pornographic recording, punishable by five years imprisonment and a $ 5,000 fine" (http://ericnuzum.com/banned/fifties.html). Even Elvis Aaron Presley, ‘The King of rock-n-roll’ was once thought of as obscene. In 1957, when he appeared on the Ed Sullivan show for the third time, the cameramen were told to only film him from the waist up. "Elvis’s dancing was considered lewd" (http://ericnuzum.com/banned/fifties.html).
Although music has been under attack by law makers since the early fifties, in the past ten years the attack has seemed to soar. One attack on this freedom comes from parental advisory stickers that are placed on CD’s. Parental Advisory stickers are used as a form of censorship against an artist and their lyrics. If a label will produce an album, I don’t think there should be any reason that the consumer can’t decide for him or herself if lyrics contained in the album are found...
It clearly states in the first amendment that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances," however, censorship in America still exists in a huge way. "Music censorship is the term used to describe the act of editing, altering, or preventing the listener from hearing the music as the artist created it in order to either deny certain information or to act as a moral gatekeeper of potentially harmful material"
(http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~barndollar/courses/spring98/students/fabfive/index.html).
The Censorship of music in the United Stated dates as far back as 1951, when "Radio stations ban Dottie O'Brien's "Four or Five Times" and Dean Martin's "Wham Bam, Thank You Ma'am" fearing they are suggestive.” Then, in 1954, Ruth Thompson introduced a bill in the House that would ban mailing of any pornographic recording, punishable by five years imprisonment and a $ 5,000 fine" (http://ericnuzum.com/banned/fifties.html). Even Elvis Aaron Presley, ‘The King of rock-n-roll’ was once thought of as obscene. In 1957, when he appeared on the Ed Sullivan show for the third time, the cameramen were told to only film him from the waist up. "Elvis’s dancing was considered lewd" (http://ericnuzum.com/banned/fifties.html).
Although music has been under attack by law makers since the early fifties, in the past ten years the attack has seemed to soar. One attack on this freedom comes from parental advisory stickers that are placed on CD’s. Parental Advisory stickers are used as a form of censorship against an artist and their lyrics. If a label will produce an album, I don’t think there should be any reason that the consumer can’t decide for him or herself if lyrics contained in the album are found...