Original link: https://blog.yitianshijie.net/2022/07/05/have-you-been-harmed-by-content/
Richard Taruskin, December 2001 :
Who cares more about art, those who want to regulate art or those who advocate letting it go?
The people here who want to regulate art are the Taliban. The above is out of chapter. Conclusion at the end:
Censorship is always reprehensible, but self-restraint can be a noble sentiment. It is a moral stupidity to not know what is noble and what is condemned. “9.11” has happened. For art, it’s time we got rid of that rancid good sense of self. Art is not always simple. Art can do harm. The Taliban understand this. We should also learn.
Please read the original text . Here’s a thought that’s relevant today: those who advocate no “middlemen” at all, and those who advocate giving the audience complete choice, are often the ones who don’t care about art at all. Perhaps replacing art with “content” can be more comprehensible to today’s readers. They are likely never really moved by the content. Because the real move is the hurt.
Who cares more about the people who take listening as the supreme principle, the serious music fans who think that the lyrics are not important and the more advanced instrumental music, and the government that wants to change the lyrics of 30 years ago? One of them knows—rather than just believes—that art can do harm.
“Language is used to communicate, I will write it as long as you can understand it”, and the government that strictly regulates the difference between “closed city” and “blocked control”, who cares more about language? One of them knows—rather than just believes—that language is a weapon, while the other has been wounded by this weapon and is reluctant to believe that language can be a weapon.
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