After the fighting of gay and women's rights we are now witnessing a time of reverse censorship. Recently there has been action by gay rights activists to try and get the musician and poet Beenie Man and other Jamaican artists banned from this years MOBOs and from the UK music industry. Some of Beenie Man's lyrics are offensive to many; for example in one of dancehall stars recent songs he wishes for a time in Jamaica without homosexuals. Shocking as these lyrics are, the artist and his work should not be banned because the argument fights against the core ideals of freedom. We wish for freedom of speech and freedom of will but as soon as someone offensive comes along we no longer want freedom and want censorship...this is a simple case of double standards.
If you don't like Beenie Man's music don't listen to it...I don't listen to the Village People because it is camp and crap but I don't wish it to be banned because it is associated with batty sex. Every pop song release by Brittany, Madonna and the Spice Girls is about sex and young girls are buying the records in the hundreds of thousands. The simple fact is that people buy the records but don't really listen to what they are actually about...we like the music and the beats, not the focus of the lyrics. If Beenie Man should be banned, so should every other contemporary piece of music that is about sex, drugs, murder etc.
Beenie Man's art has a place in this world, it a reflection of the times and opinions in Jamaica men and it is therefore an important inclusion in the evolution of man.
