The Pros And Cons Of Censorship Of Art

Censorship of the arts is a highly debated and controversial subject that deals with what artistic content is deemed acceptable or unacceptable to the public in society, as well as the limitations of practicing artists’ rights to express themselves through art. In this regard, art should be a way to express one’s own opinions, but should not be used as a vessel for insensitive or malicious intent in dealing with topics such as race and religion. In this essay, I will be discussing this and two other reasons as to why artists should not be given absolute freedom in creating their artworks. These other reasons are that art may also cause controversy within society when dealing with topics unaccepted by conservative members of the public, such as political views that go against the norm, as well as shocking or, to some, disturbing content such as intense or extreme gore and nudity. While these are some reasons why art censorship can be justified, I will also be discussing a counter-argument to these reasons, which is that society should not shoot down views and opinions based solely on a minority that does not approve of them.

A picture of this flier was then spread through social media and was eventually posted onto the Facebook pages of several animal welfare groups, most notably, on the Singapore Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ (SPCA) Facebook page. The post was then met with angry comments from the public stating that the artists “deserve to die” and “should be imprisoned” due to the content of the flier. The comments also stated that the flier was “not art”, despite their lack of knowledge on the actual context of the flier, and several other fliers displayed within the performance artwork. This is an irrational argument as the artwork was not “promoting” animal abuse, but also included many other satirical and questionable messages other than to “kill stray cats”. Thus, art, or its respective artists, should not be put down or denounced by the general public due to a group of people who disapprove of its content due to misinterpretation of the original message and theme.

In conclusion, I disagree to the statement as art should not be abused and used as a justification for malicious intent, be it in a religious or racial context, or used simply to shock viewers through nudity, sexually explicit content, extreme gore or body mutilation. Though these reasons can justify art censorship to a certain extent, one should not be condemnatory towards art or its artist due to misinterpretation or skewed views towards