Topic: Censorship

The main reason I'm so much against censorship directed towards any form of fictional art is 'cause I grew up surrounded by that discourse, always being /aware/ of it.

So, let me tell you about the censorship of arts:

In the 19th century Oscar Wilde published THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, and it was immediately banned by most English speaking countries on the basis that it was violating the laws guarding public morality.

The book critics of the time deemed it "mawkish and nauseous", "unclean",

"effeminate" and "contaminating", mainly 'cause of its homoeroticism.
If you read that book now, it's very hard to see what the fuzz is about, but the so called "antis" of that time absolutely /hated/ that book 'cause of the topics it had.

In the 80s there was an American committee called Parents Music Resource Center, which was formed to censor heavy metal music containing themes they deemed as offensive and harmful towards children, mainly 'cause they interpreted the lyrics as containing

references to occultism, glorification of suicide, rape, sadomasochism etc.

This group is why there's now "parental advisory" stickers on albums, and why, once they came into use, many record stores refused to sell albums which had that sticker.

But, because that sticker very clearly labeled any album as "forbidden-fruit", it ended up INCREASING people's interest in them and their sale.

And then there's the topic that a film freak like me knows the most about: The censorship and banning of movies in my country.

Some examples:

THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) - Banned because of graphic violence

PEEPING TOM (1960) - Banned for 21 years

FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980) - Banned on its initial release

CRUISING (1980) - Banned on its initial release

These bans have been long since been lifted but, at the time, it meant that you literally /could not find it anywhere/. The best way to get to see a banned movie (during the VHS time) was if you knew someone from another country

that /didn't/ have that movie on their banned list and have them mail it to you (which meant you'd be stuck with an English movie with automatic foreign subtitles, and if you didn't understand either language too well, well, bad luck).

And, of course, there was that time in the early 2000s when people tried to place the blame of kids violent behaviour on video games, the detractors arguing that "video games are harmful and therefore should be subject to legislative oversight and restrictions".

The point of this thread: No matter what time we're living in, there are always going to be people wanting to censor forms of art 'cause it offends their sense of what is morally right.

The Picture of Dorian Gray? No one would even /think/ about banning that book now

(nor do their utmost to throw Oscar Wilde into jail 'cause of his homosexual relations).

Fight against censorship. Fight against people trying to silence LGBTQ+ voices.

Fight for your right to create.

[Edit] For anyone interested, I strongly recommend watching the documentary METAL: A HEADBANGER'S JOURNEY (2005). Whether that's your style of music or not, it's still a very enlightening watch.

Marvel at Dee Snider owning everyone.