Culture Wars

5 Pages 1356 Words

Culture Wars
While I, as an artist, feel that the debate over Serrano’s “Piss Christ” and Mapplethorpe’s “The Perfect Moment” exhibit is ridiculous, I can appreciate the need for debate in our society. A world where everyone agrees with everyone else, while impossible, would be incredibly frustrating to live in. As a whole our society thrives on debate. This is why we have a political democracy, or some form of it, and not a dictatorship.
Dissent and debate are important tools in our culture that are used to further the knowledge and understanding of society. Censorship should not be part of this system. Censorship has been an issue for as long as have been organized power structures in communities. Censorship is something that is done by people who are afraid of new ideas, different ideas, and ideas that are not given to them by someone higher up than themselves. Censorship is based on fear, the fear of losing one’s power, the fear of corrupting morals, the fear that young adults and children are not capable of thinking for themselves, and the fear that god will not approve. One of the main focuses behind censorship is religion. Religion is a tool that is used by powerful men who wish to have an easy means of control. Religion is thought to be a rational set of standards by which people are supposed to live their lives, but it seems more like a control mechanism for those who desire power.
The American Family Association is a good example of how religion can mobilize a group of people to censor things that otherwise would be considered normal. On their website the AFA states, “The bible is clear on the matter of homosexuality. It is a sin… The consequences of calling this behavior anything but what god calls it are staggering. For example, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are rampant among homosexuals” (See attached material). This one sided, biased opinion omits the fact that the AID...