Censorship Gone Too Far :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Censorship Gone Too Far Seven Works Cited Have you ever walked into a music store and seen those parental advisory stickers on most of todays' popular music? Or have you seen those TV ratings on the top left corner of your favorite shows? How about the ratings on your favorite video games? I'm sure you have, but do you really know what those so-called harmless stickers, and images do to the world of entertainment and your freedom of expression for that matter? A recent craze to promote "family values" in the U.S. has caused censorship panels to go entirely too far with the censorship of the entertainment industry including television, radio, the Internet, and even authors. Not only do the customers suffer by having parental bans on their favorite music, but the musicians suffer as well. The musicians are betrayed by their own labels, who are there to support them, not hurt them! The world of music is basically a collage of the artist's thoughts, so banning what they write is a violation of their freedom of speech. (Crowley, 1) One of those artists is three time Grammy winner Sheryl Crow. In 1996, Crow released her self-titled album to her many awaiting fans. When most went to their local Wal*Mart to pick it up, they were turned down because of the contents in the lyrics. (Family-Friendly..., 76) Wal*Mart said the lyrics were offensive and argued that Crow, and her record label change the offensive lyrics. (Family-Friendly..., 76) When Crow and her label refused to change the lyrics, Wal*Mart and many other large-retail stores refused to sell her album. (Family-Friendly, 76) That was not the only time a large retail store refused the sale of an item! In 1986, Wal*Mart stopped the sale of certain rock magazine, including Creem and Rolling Stone. (Family-Friendly..., 76) The company argued that the magazines conflicted with the family oriented atmosphere they tried to maintain. (Family Friendly..., 76) The same goes for the CDs with Parental Advisories. Wal*Mart and most large retail stores like it, will not sell any Parental Advisories CDs. Therefore, they have decided to clean up those CDs before putting them on the shelves, altering them in many ways to get rid of the so-called explicit lyrics.