Censorship

I have trouble with the concept of speech being violent. I understand that certain language is unnecessary and inappropriate, but to actually consider a word or set of words violent seems strange.

An example of this is music. Censorship is a perpetual annoyance. I always felt like monitoring of music should be an individual/parent’s job and not the music distributor’s. I understand that people do not want children exposed to certain lyrics, but on the same note I feel that the music I enjoy should be readily available as it was made; rather than how a minority of people prefers to listen to it. Wal-Mart is an example of a store that distributes censored music. I want you to consider two different stances; Of course, there are individuals who feel that music should be censored if available in stores like Wal-Mart where it is available to the youth. However, is it not just as violent to keep someone from hearing music? Especially if that is the way the music was intended to be heard.

My personal vendetta against music censorship began when I purchased a Puddle of Mudd CD several years ago from Wal-Mart. That was clearly a mistake. The song “She Hates Me” really loses something when half of the lyrics are missing. Regardless of the particular message being sent by the lyrics, it is an artistic expression. The message that is being communicated is merely artistic expression with the goal aesthetic auditory perception.