Censorship is an inherently tricky thing because everyone has different tastes and different sensibilities. Who is to decide what's appropriate and when something's appropriate if at all? In America, we're pretty good about no censoring individuals, but art is a different story.
From movies, to music and even video games, our country is constantly censoring what people are exposed to. Many people believe that censorship in the arts is vital to maintaining morality, but I honestly can't say I agree.
Movies are an easy example of censorship in action. Movies are censored and overseen by the MPAA, Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA is the organization responsible for making a film PG or R, but when it comes down to it, they limit films by imposing their own ideas of what's appropriate. Instead of watching and judging each film subjectively for what content it has and what would be appropriate for a given age group, the MPAA relies on a checklist. So if your film has a certain number of words they have deemed inappropriate then it's age rating will change as a result. This represents a problem for a lot of reasons. For starters, movie executives always want as many people as possible to see their film in theaters, which usually means censoring themselves and catering to the widest movie going audience, the PG-13 crowd. According to the MPAA, too much cursing or nudity is too much for a 13 year old to handle, despite the fact that teenagers are already aware of such swear words and probably use them personally. Imagine how different some films would look if they didn't have to fit themselves into a restrictive system. Imagine a batman movie wear criminals curse and Batman is free to act as violently as would in a comic. What about about a Suicide Squad movie where characters get as violent and crazy as they usually are in other mediums. The MPAA, like most other censoring organizations, is in the business of telling the people what they can't handle instead of letting them experience it for themselves and deciding what appropriate.
The music industry undergoes similar scrutiny. Every album that's released has to be listened to and placed with a warning label if it's content is deemed inappropriate for some audiences. I actually don't think the label is a bad thing, but the way parents often point to music as an influence on children or others seems absolutely outlandish. When Gangsta Rap experienced its golden age in the 90s, parents had a huge problem with its content. They said that it was too violent, it was demeaning to women, glorified gangs and promoted drug use. People reasoned that such music would naturally make listeners more inclined to violence and other negative activities, but it actually didn't. Rap became the world's most popular music genre with millions upon millions enjoying the music . If the logic behind wanting to remove rap held true then there should have been millions of people trying to do what they heard in songs, but the reality is music really doesn't have that huge an effect on people. A person who's already violent will be violent no matter what music they hear and a person who is prone to bad behavior won't do more or less depending on the music they hear. My parents played me and my siblings gangsta rap since we were children, but it didn't make us more inclined to bad behavior because my parents were there to explain to us what's wrong and what's right. Instead of censoring artists parents should be responsible for what their child listens to and that they know what's right and wrong. We, as a society, should also not put too much weight into the effects music can have because, as history has shown us, they are usually overblown. At one point, Jazz was considered the devil's music, disco was considered immoral and rock and roll was said too bad for listeners, so it's safe to say that censoring music is not always justified.
I don't think that censorship is completely a bad thing or that it is never justified, but unjustified or over bearing censorship is definitely bad. If you have a child you every right to make sure they don't see or hear something you deem inappropriate for them and if your an adult and something offends you you can always not pay it any attention. A great man once said, “Censorship is telling a man he can't have steak because a child can't eat it as well” and in age where media content is everywhere I think we could all benefit from remembering it.
