Sounds like ... to me

You might have read the story about Wal-Mart refusing to sell Green Day's latest CD 21st Century Breakdown if they don't release a clean version without "objectionable content". Wow, that is a big pill to swallow. I can't even begin to tell you what a diversity of feelings that evoked in me from anger to frustration. I applaud Green Day for sticking to their guns and taking a pass on Wal-Mart.

My wife and I used to make fun of Green Day in the heyday of pop-punk. Whenever a song would play on the radio or TV we would say: "sounds like Green Day to me". Although I am still not a fan of their music I have to give them kudos for not being afraid to speak out about current issues.

My concerns in this matter come from the interpretive nature of the topic. A retail store can sell whatever they want to sell. An artist can create art freely unless they violate other's rights. There is art, especially in music, which is not suitable for all audiences. I agree that we need to protect and especially educate children in this matter. The PMRC took some steps in the right direction to classify content with a parental advisory label. Although I don't necessarily agree with this approach it seems to at least warn parents that are involved with their children.

There is a lot of obscenity and violence in music. But there is also critical thinking and uneasy content. I can understand when stores or radio stations ban or censor music that contains matter of obscenity and violence. Like I said, stores can rely on parents and the PMRC label and there are "clean" versions of songs for radio airplay. The freedom of speech argument holds up because you can acquire said music when you're old enough. Problems arise when stores are starting to censor content because they consider it offensive otherwise. If this was a single store you would say big deal, I go to the next one. What Wal-Mart tries to do is use their power to keep different opinions out of their stores. Do they have the right to do it? Sure. But it's a scary thought to see a retailer do what the government and the constitution are trying to prevent, the censorship of free speech. There is a constant struggle going on in every free country on what is free speech and when someone's rights are violated. It is not the retailer's role to impose rules on a big part of society. What's next, they're not selling books that discuss the evolution theory because it offends some of their customers? This is just an example to illustrate my point. What type of precedence for all other artists would this have set if Green Day had caved?

Fortunately, there are other ways of purchasing the music of choice and although Wal-Mart is huge we're not depending on it as a music provider.

Education is more important than censorship. If you place works of art into their respective context and explain their content to kids they will actually learn something and process the information given to them. By censoring or prohibiting art they will be more inclined to try and get a hold of it. And they might just repeat slogans and phrases that can be misused, abused and interpreted in offensive ways.

What are your thoughts?