Every now and then the word censorship comes back into fashion. A symbol of undemocratic regimes but also a symbol of the liberticidal temptations of our democracies. The victims, so to speak because here no one risks their lives as in Iran but if anything increases sales and notoriety, are the artists.
The latest famous cases: Fedez at the May Day concert, Ghali in the last edition of Sanremo, and now Tony Effe, first called and then cancelled by the PD junta of the municipality of Rome for the evening of the 31st. Well, if the reason is the worldview that emerges from his lyrics, they could have read them before, it’s not like they are illegal immigrants. Violence, machismo, sexism, vulgarity are the common thread of almost all Italian rappers and trappers. One can argue at length about the ideological and cultural dimension of the aesthetic dimension, but again, everything here was out in the open.
The fact is that the omelet grows and has become a giant wave of whipped eggs, many express solidarity, others are already screaming for artistic freedom, the smartest of all, however, is the censor who retorted like this: I am doing a concert at Palaeur at the bargain price of ten euros. With this publicity it will be full. And the public party square will be deserted, without singers, mutinous to please the Censor, and at least without the fans of Tony Effe, who will also bring his singing friends on stage to make a marketing hymn to freedom. Which has little to do with it here; if anything, we are dealing with a category I am not saying, for fear of taking lawsuits.
My God, I’m not censoring myself, am I?
Finally goodbye to the old Square Party, everything in our age is pay-as-you-go, and most importantly, even censorship in democracy yields.
The article Censorship is not a bane comes from TheNewyorker.
