Svetlana Mintcheva's Censoring Culture

The book Censoring Culture: Contemporary Threats to Free Expression edited by Robert Atkins and Svetlana Mintcheva explains the many forms of censorship in society that include: economics, the internet, protecting children, cultural diversity and hate speech, and self-censorship. The book emphasizes on how individuals need to be aware of the amount of censorship that is present on our daily lives and how that affects and influences how we see and navigate the world. Although many believe censorship is necessary in order to protect children and avoid conflict between social groups, nevertheless, censorship limits, restricts, and marginalize artist and people to express themselves in any form. Thus, censorship controls society financially and

She describes the consequences toward the future of art and culture due to the lack of funds. For instance, “Without such a commitment, perhaps we need to define this neglect as a subcategory of censorship: Cultural deprivation due to the withholding of financial life-support” (Lerner, 13). In other words, these financial needs deprive artist from making art which limits and restricts creativity. The art community suffers a lot of limitation due to the lack of funding toward organizations and the majority of the funding is distributed unequally. As a result, many artist do not have the opportunity to either showcase their art or create new art due to this financial problem. Therefore, the way the economics for the arts is constructed, negatively impacts the art community and creates disparities for

Mintcheva claims that many in power, such as congress men, express their hatred towards provocative controversial art in an indirect insidious form. For instance, “Instead, they are camouflaged as demands for respect, sensitivity, or decency. The ‘say what you like, but not with my tax dollars’ catchphrase” (Mintcheva, 252). Meaning that many use this catchphrase as a scapegoat to censor and prohibit artist into expressing their thoughts about controversial topics to the public. This is an issue in the art world because it restricts and limits artist to express their creativity in a full potential and degrades artist to feel punished for practicing their first amendment. Unfortunately, it is often utilized toward marginalize artist who express their sexuality or culture. Additionally, Mintcheva discloses that these controversial imagery are important for individuals to display and witness. She states, “What some see as an assault on religious symbols or historical sacred cows, others regard as a criticism of the commercial uses of faith, a multicultural expansion of religious iconology, or an inquiry into how consumer society deals with the traumas of the past. Some words and images may hurt—no matter how they are used—because they are deeply rooted