We must ensure both that the equivalent of the public library will be available and that information producers will be compensated adequately enough to survive in the Information Age. Perhaps creative economic ideas such as shareware and sliding scale rates can be implemented effectively. Freedom of Expression Freedom of expression as it's practiced in our society is both relative and culturally-based. Those who publish, broadcast and disseminate information have better tools for communicating ideas and shaping public opinion than those whose audience for expressing views are family, friends and co-workers. Marginalized viewpoints, whether they be ethnic, racial, artistic or political, have always had difficulty being heard.
Artists offer their society a cultural means of identifying and imagining itself.
As such, they play an integral role in its development. However, in recent years artists have found their works misunderstood and attacked by the Radical Right as being obscene. Congress passed legislation to restrict National Endowment for the Arts funding to those works which do not offend community standards, in effect sanctioning the repression of cultural investigation. Libraries and bookstores have been criticized for the contents of their collections by members of their communities. If so, communication will be stifled.