China, Censorship, and Rock-n-Roll

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/08/stones.concert.ap/index.html

The Rolling Stones recently made their first appearence in the Communist nation of China. It seems so odd that such a world widely famous band has only recently visited one of the most populated nations in the world. And although the Communist nation is far more prepared for such a racey group than in previous years, they still requested censorship of a number of the Rolling Stone's songs.

The Chinese government felt that many of the song lyrics were far too sexually suggestive to be sung during the Chinese concert, and were there for censored.

The idea of censorship is certainly not an old one. To today's American youth however, the idea seems almost archaic. America's collective youth has rarely experienced censorship in any form. Our generation has witnessed tremendous growth in the freedoms of speech and print through all of our entertainment and News medians (televisions, computers, music, video games, books, magazines, etc.). The past two decades have become prime examples of pushing censorship bounderies, allowing things that would have been faux pas only a few years prior to become the current norm.

However, there seems to be a turning of tables in America. In the past year, the News media has been hounded by the government for releasing unflattering news about the war in Iraq to the American public. Mind you that some of the information that was released in the prior year lead to the revealing of an undercover CIA agent, possibly putting her, and national security at risk of being harmed. Because of this scandal, and other news that may be viewed as harmful to the reputation of the Presidential Administration, there has been a call for censorship of the News media.

There have also been cries for censorship of "lewd" material in the entertainment medians of the media. Conservative groups have complained that growing sexual, violent, and "immoral" material premiered in entertainment medians of media are harmful to the moral basis of society, and should be censored.

My question is, do these people have a point? Should all forms of media be sensored? I say no. My concern is who would be doing the censoring. Who has the right to determine what I watch, listen to, or read. And why does that particular group have all of the right answers? I believe to give one group such great power over the information we recieve is a huge mistake. It would completly limit our aility to view the world around us. To be able to make educated choices as a human being, we must be able access information from all sides, cultures, and creeds. If we so choose not to partake in certain forms of media, then it is our choive as a free human being to make that choice.

As with all things, there are some limitations that must apply to prevent the explotation of people. Certainly media that endangers people (as in the Scooter-Libby Sacandal) or exploits (as in child pornography) must be closely watched and censored if necissary.

Such special circumstances make it difficult to make a judgement call on censureship. However, I believe that in most cirrcumstances, censorship is unnecissary and wrong. We must use our best judgement to decide what media is truly harmful and what is not. Such a job can be tedious and difficult, but what else can we do? We can not censor everything. We must protect our freedom.