Ban "Music containing lyrics that glorify violent and criminal lifestyle"?

Debates over the content and censorship of these forms of media have become increasingly prominent as mass production and communication technologies have enabled books, songs and images to be circulated to ever wider audiences.

During the last two decades, the musical genre known as hip hop has found itself at the forefront of this debate.

We expect fans of an art form that is subjected to public criticism and vilification to leap to its defence. Some of these aficionados- whether the medium in question is cinema, fine art or pop music- make the case for the value of their favourite mode of expression by overstating its positive effects. Hip hop has long been the focus of controversies surrounding violent music. Hip hop is closely associated with low-level criminality, as noted above. A number of highly successful hip hop artists have been attacked or killed as a result of feuds within the industry and links between managers, promoters and criminal gangs.

But the crime and deviance existed in marginalized communities long before the creation of pop music or hip hop. Side proposition is attempting to claim that a particular genre of hip hop is harming efforts to improve living standards and social cohesion within these communities. Many of the problems associated with poor socialization and a lack of social mobility in inner city areas can be linked to the closed, isolated nature of these communities, as the proposition comments correctly observe. However, these problems can be traced to a lack of positive engagement between these young people and wider society.

What do you think?