315_Group_P1

Position Paper – Part One

Name:Ana mDemocrat Santoyo

Instructions: Please use this form as an organizer for writing your portion of your group position paper. You will be writing the opening paragraphs of the paper. You should clearly and thoroughly identify the problem that you are addressing. You may use your own research and the research from other members of your group. Be sure to follow the MLA citation format that you used when completing your JRP. Your portion of the paper should be a minimum of one page in length.

I. There is a problem in society today. That problem is I interviewed Kandice Modene and Sean Doherty, In an interview with Kandice Modene, she states, "she is all for less censorship in daily life". She agreed with the solution of the law and how specific it was. She said, "I hate that people think nude art is pomiscuous, I think it's beatiful and people should not discredit the artist by banning his work, because conservative parents think it's porn". As for the interview with Sean Doherty, he said "the idea of the law is okay, but what are the punishments if the teachers, or art museum owners, or anyone that has the authority to ban something that could be offensive from any establishment?" Sean's question rose a good idea which made me think of what could be done to enforce the law.

The US Bill of Rights provides every US citizen with individual rights such as granting power to the states and people (10th Amendment), civil trial by jury (7th Amendment) but let us not forget the first and perhaps the most important amendment, Freedom of Speech. Every US citizen has the right to choose their own religion, vote, protest and also the freely express themselves, or do they? The issue today is that the government is not disagreeing with the way society is censoring many individuals’ works. The individuals include important people such as authors, artist, or from time to time even the media is being censored right before our eyes. One of many examples is the well liked successful pop singer Madonna. Laying out Hit single after hit single Madonna one day in 1986 introduced to the public something new and different named “Papa Don’t Preach”. Her music video which illustrated a pregnant teen committing suicide was banned from all TV shows such as MTV for demonstrating “explicitly violent behavior”. The media is also being censored. Our literature in books for example is also being censored. Books like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain is still a controversial issue. People officially decided that the book, due to its “vulgar” language, was racist and/or offensive. Why should a book that clearly portrays the ways the south viewed the African American community back in 1835. why should books censor the bad material from the ways the US used to be. If US was a real democratic nation as it claims to be, we would accept artist’s and author’s work and acknowledge that not everybody would objectify other people’s belief and their ways of expressing themselves. We clearly are violating the liberties and rights of our nation's people and are limiting their constituional rights.As a democratic nation it is our duty to pull the brakes now, and fight for our people’s rights as American citizens.

Rich, Joshua. “AMadonna’s Video was Banned From MTV For Being To Hot For TV. __EW.com__ November 20,1998

II. Facts that demonstrate that there is a problem are: (You may use your own sources and the sources of the members in your group)