Art that doesn't confront is rarely challenged. And ideas that don't provoke people have little need for protection. Although attacks on the fine arts are certainly a problem, a much more virulent strain of censorship plagues art in U.S. popular culture. About a quarter of reported challenges include attempts to restrict commercial television, movies, and music, as well as photographs and films used in advertisements. The American entertainment industry has been the center of a vast censorship controversy for at least twenty years.
Many questions immediately come to mind.
We can also exercise our own free speech rights by voicing our objections to forms of expression we don't like. This is as true today as it was when the justice said it in 1927. The campuses of U.S. colleges and universities are the settings for roughly one out of five art censorship incidents. Increasingly, students are seeking the removal of art that offends them. A great deal of art censorship is also happening in public spaces, such as city halls and libraries.