Banning and censoring books could be intended to prevent people from reading inappropriate context, which could include many different themes. The truth is censorship does not prevent us from living all the possible events that could possibly traumatize us. On the other hand I think it could possibly alert us to see things that not all of us get to live, this way we take more conscience of what good or evil happens in the real world. Another type of censorship comes from religion, but it is not intended to offend a certain group of people. For example, Groys says “The artistic texts, images, and performances can impress a spectator or a reader but they are not supposed to be able to change the world by their mere presence.” (212), referring that even with the type of art displayed it is not made for anyone’s opinions to change about something but rather to take a look at a different view of something. There is a book called All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and it was banned due to its drug and alcohol use and promoting anti-police views. Although in my opinion it is wrong to have banned this book because it is about some young black guys who were involved with the police and had bad consequences, which today is still something people of color can encounter such as police brutality. These forms of art are made from the freedom of speech each of us has but the banning of books violates that. Gund said “…how aware we are of the oppression of art and artists as it has occurred in the past and as it happens in our own time.” (36), because we know that censorship is more wrong than good since it all has a purpose. 

Works Cited

Groys, Boris. “Hurting the Feelings of Others: Semantic Scholar.” Undefined, 1 Jan. 1970, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Hurting-the-Feelings-of-Others-Groys/7061471b0616cc55225d932e3e34b897dd1c0397.  (Links to an external site.)

Since music is technically a form of art, a song that I think is controversial and could be banned in “Stan” by Eminem. The song was so controversial because it was about one of Eminem’s fans killing himself and his pregnant wife because he thought Eminem was ignoring the mail he sent to him. Should any songs that contain such sensitive topics as suicide be censored? First, we would have to know if suicide/ murder is sensitive enough to be considered for censorship. In The Fear of Art by David Freedberg it is said that “the bulk of such disturbances are predicated on sensitivity to social context, content, or implication.” (Freedberg 94) Considering that suicide is the tenth leading cause of death, it is safe to assume society views this as a sensitive topic that has no place in music. Another important thing to consider is whether songs could be censored in present-day America. It is no secret that U.S citizens will protest when unfavorable laws are put in place, which would impact the process of censorship. Lawmakers would be pressured into not censoring music to please the public and put an end to protesting. After all “To censor or destroy a work is to testify to its hold over its public” (Freedberg 68) so as long as the public keeps protesting the censorship will not be effective.

Works Cited

Freedberg, David. “The Fear of Art: How Censorship Becomes Iconoclasm.” Vol. 83, 2016, pp. 67–99. Social Research.

Gund, Agus “Introduction: Reflections on Art Censorship and Banning” Undefined, 1 March 1990, https://web-a-ebscohost-com.ezp.tccd.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=1bb31593-e3c8-498e-9243-4ff6566595dd%40sessionmgr4006Links to an external site.