Questionable Content in Music

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Christopher Rich PHI4800_001_2143 Aesthetics Paper I. Introduction In this paper I intend to exam Case 14, Arts and Questionable Content and address the issues that can be raised by this case even though this case deals with examples and how the artist has to change their art for it to be played without any restrictions. My position is that an artist should be able to keep their art in the same form that they created without it being changed in any form just so that the artist can have the ability to have their art heard by the masses that have the same views that the artist may have. This case is an issue when you listen to various songs and you hear a different word or a bleep to replace certain words that are in the song. Three of the best known examples would have to be George Carlin’s “Seven dirty words”, YG’s “ My Nigga”, The 2 Live Crew’s album “As Nasty As They Wanna Be.” II. Body A lot of people believe that artists have the right to say whatever they want on their songs but in the United States it is not true. Since 1978 when the US Supreme Court upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s ruling that George Carlin’s Seven dirty words was indecent material it has forced the various radio and record agencies to change their policies on what was played and what could be released without an warning label. The Supreme Court said that it was indecent but not obscene. Also, that the government has the interest to protect children and ensuring that unwanted speech is not forced on someone. With the examples provided you can see that it has not forced a change in the view of the artists but just finding ways to stay in the grey area so that the artist can be heard. When 2 Live Crew came out in 1989 with their album As Nasty As They Wanna Be it wasn’t the main issue that their songs were not being played it however was the art work on the cd and that
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