Anyone can show their artistic side by creating pieces of art, ranging from photos to paintings or music to dances. There are beautiful pieces that can stick with you for a lifetime and there are pieces that may cause you to recoil in horror. Artists, since the beginning of time, have been pushing the boundaries of what is offensive through their imagery. No matter what is created, the people have the right to create it, and are protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution being considered protected speech. One of the most recent debates is whether works considered controversial should be publicly funded. If the government decides that funding artwork is essential to the country they can not only fund artwork that supports their viewpoint. Art has been proven to support the economy by providing jobs, inviting tourism, and positively contribute to communities and still people try to hide or censor it.
“I think that [government support of art] is really important because it's something we need promoted it’s something past governments have shut down, but at the same time the government shutting down art has, in a sense, really helped the art movements in rebellion terms, but also it has destroyed. Take the Nazis for example. They stole tons of artwork, they destroyed thousands of pieces, and so we’ve lots whole bits of history because the government did not support art,” NHS Senior Katharine Humber said.
On YouTube many people are speaking out against censorship and what can be shown in their videos. YouTube is now enforcing the policy that videos containing content that is considered “not advertisement-friendly” is being demonetized, meaning that they can no longer earn money for what they put out. For some this is the only form of income they get effectively cutting them off from their jobs. Some of the content considered “not advertisement-friendly” is sexually suggestive content, violence, inappropriate language, controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown and more. YouTubers who have been notified that their videos are not gaining them revenue are outraged; even videos about depression and acne are affected due to advertisers not approving.
Like most types of artwork, not all videos or channels are meant to be “family-friendly,”. Is it still right for their videos to follow the same guidelines as all the others? Even long time users, such as Philip DeFranco, who have, for over ten years, been posting videos are having their videos be demonetized though they have always had “strong language” and videos covering current events. By doing this people will eventually stop posting anything that will not gain them revenue.
The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is known almost exclusively for the amount he has been censored by his government. He very plainly speaks out the injustices and faults he believes he finds in the government’s policies through his art pieces and social media. He once created a piece in which he had installed recordings of Tibetan and Native American chants in two psychiatric evaluation rooms. The culturally significant rhythmic noises contrasted with the clinical rooms and exposed a message of human rights and freedom of speech, which unlike our country, his did not have a law to uphold these rights. He has never been quiet about his opposition to the government, and in 2011 he was arrested under investigation for alleged economic crimes. Everything he owned was searched and eight staff members as well as his wife were also arrested. It is theorized that his arrest was a message that no one was immune from following what the government desires to be seen.
“The government brutalized him and put him in jail for making work that brought attention to his political views, which in his country he wasn't able to do. And I'm so glad he’s out of prison and lives here and is safe physically. I don't think anyone should be physically hurt for expressing their opinions,” Southern Connecticut State University art professor Karen Dow said.
There are cases when censoring what the public sees is a good thing, such as controlling obscenities. In extreme situations, they may be necessary to convey the drastic emotion but they do not need to be said in between every word. Censorship can also be good for protecting small children. They are incredibly impressionable and seeing porn or a hate speech could leave them behaving poorly in public spaces. Letting the public knowing absolutely everything that occurs in their nation is a sure way to cause pointless panic that may cause more harm than good.
“I think anything that puts someone else in danger should be censored but I don't think that necessarily include strong language or I don't think nudity should be censored because it doesn't put anyone in danger,” NHS junior Maggie Alexander said.
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