Should heavy metal be banned?

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

The OP should provide us with what his intended definition of what is heavy metal music. I want to see someone come up with a good enough definition to be used in a law.

[The Parkus Empire]

Increase the fine until they're deterred.

And when they stop paying the fine altogether?

Same as happens when you refuse to pay taxes

[The New California Republic]

The nonreligious don't have moral experts. That's not my fault.

Uh huh, sure they don't. Someone better tell Peter Singer, Sam Harris, et al, that they are not moral experts(!)

[The East Marches II]

I would go further OP. Ban everything not vaporwave.

[Nea Videssos]

Religious leaders do not have the right to dictate the shape of the entertainment industry to atheists. One religion does not have the right to dictate the shape of the entertainment industry to another.

Yes. All this talk of "moral councils" deciding which music should be banned is absolutely ludicrous. It is similar to something that Saudi Arabia and Iran has.

Even then, there are metal bands in Saudi Arabia and Iran. More in Iran than Saudi Arabia, but I'm aware of one or two Saudi Black Metal bands (who make music in spite of risking death). Shows how despite such bans, people will find ways to make the music they want to.

[The Parkus Empire]

The nonreligious don't have moral experts. That's not my fault.

Uh huh, sure they don't. Someone better tell Peter Singer, Sam Harris, et al, that they are not moral experts(!)

If you consider a man who advocates infanticide after birth (Singer) to be your moral expert.

[Nucego]

And when they stop paying the fine altogether?

Same as happens when you refuse to pay taxes

No no no, I want you say clearly and directly what you want to happen to those who refuse to pay for your ridiculous fine. Say it.

[Andsed]

No. No. No. Just no.

Religious leaders do not have the right to dictate the shape of the entertainment industry to atheists. One religion does not have the right to dictate the shape of the entertainment industry to another. One denomination does not have the right to dictate to another. One person does not have the right to dictate appropriate music, books or films to another.

People can watch, look at, listen to, and read whatever the bloody hell they want.

If you don't like it, walk out of the room!

EDIT: And as for "no nonreligious moral experts"; I've personally met atheists who are more moral than many of the Christians I've known. Atheists may have more taste than to brand themselves a moral expert, but religion =/= morality.

The nonreligious don't have moral experts. That's not my fault.

Ok as an atheist this offends me greatly. Saying atheist don´t have morals is dumb for one huge reason. That is YOU DON¨T NEED RELIGION TO HAVE MORALS. If we do this council atheist leaders need to be included. Granted this censoring shows based off religion is a dumb idea.

[The Parkus Empire]

Same as happens when you refuse to pay taxes

No no no, I want you say clearly and directly what you want to happen to those who refuse to pay for your ridiculous fine. Say it.

Start seizing assets

[Greater Redosia]

As a quote from Shakespeare, "Thou shalt not take thy heavy metal"

[The Free Joy State]

The nonreligious don't have moral experts. That's not my fault.

Uh huh, sure they don't. Someone better tell Peter Singer, Sam Harris, et al, that they are not moral experts(!)

Apparently, if you're not religious, you are automatically immoral and so not entitled to any opinion.

[The Parkus Empire]

The nonreligious don't have moral experts. That's not my fault.

Ok as an atheist this offends me greatly. Saying atheist don´t have morals is dumb for one huge reason. That is YOU DON¨T NEED RELIGION TO HAVE MORALS. If we do this council atheist leaders need to be included. Granted this censoring shows based off religion is a dumb idea.

I said you have no moral *experts*

Religious atheists, like Buddhist clergy, could obviously be included

[The New California Republic]

Uh huh, sure they don't. Someone better tell Peter Singer, Sam Harris, et al, that they are not moral experts(!)

If you consider a man who advocates infanticide after birth (Singer) to be your moral expert.

Can still be called a moral expert, contrary to your assertion. Just concede that you were wrong.

[Elejamie]

Before I start, if this is real and not a poe, I'm honestly surprised that there are calls to ban metal these days, especially since it's been out of vogue since the late 80s/early 90s when rap music was the new thing to censor. Anyhoo, here goes.

What would be the punishments for breaching said ban? Fines? Community service? Prison? Capital punishment?

Hey, you never know with these propositions.

Singers who produce obscene lyrics should be fined. Distribution/owning obsence songs should be made illegal with fines. Records should be burned in public to bring people together and the government should reward people for reporting their neighbors/family/friends who download heavy metal.

First of all, the singers in questions could simply use euphemisms or plays on words to avoid being fined. For example, Summer of '69 was about sex, the New Order song True Faith is about drugs (and indeed there was going to be a lyric that made it explicit but it was cut) and Don't Stand So Close To Me was about a student's relationship with her teacher. Before anyone says anything: Puff, the Magic Dragon isn't an example as it's really about growing up.

Secondly, not only will there be a black market for metal music (since people still use VPNs so any internet blocks wouldn't really work that well) but they could easily disguise it as something innocuous. After all, book safes have been a thing for decades now and people could easily disguise a blank CD full of metal by giving it a title like 20 Jazz Funk Greats or something.

And thirdly (as a few other people have countered the "burning records" argument), I don't think people would be too keen on ratting out metal-listeners to the authorities. Not only would people simply leave (as Nea Videssos pointed out) but we all know what happens when people try to inform on gangs/the mafia/shady companies/etc; granted metal fans aren't as bad as the aforementioned groups (barring the nutcases that you can find in any fandom) but they still won't be keen. Not to mention the reward probably wouldn't be worth it.

Also, random aside, what about Christian metal? It's the same sort of music but instead the lyrics are about praising God and Jesus. Would that be banned too?

How about no

I think yes, Hollywood and TV exert enormous influence on our culture, nothing wrong with expecting a little responsibility.

If this is a "think of the children" argument then I'd like to point out that a) age ratings are a thing and have been for at least 100 years (as the BBFC have been giving film certificates since 1912 and the ESRB was founded in the 1990s) and b) most of the blame could arguably lie on the parents, since they're mostly the ones buying the works and should tell their kids "No, you shouldn't be playing/watching this". If not, then disregard the last sentence.

Not to mention that there are some works that try and deconstruct the whole thing, trying to make the bad thing in question seem as bleak and unfulfilling as it is in real life. The best example I can think of is the old Amiga game Cannon Fodder, which deconstructs the whole "War is Glorious" trope by giving your soldiers names and making you grow attached to them so that, when they sadly get killed (and you find out which ones passed at the end of each level) it really hits you; it doesn't help that the hill in the background of the recruitment screen can and will fill up with graves as you get further in the game.

[The Parkus Empire]

If you consider a man who advocates infanticide after birth (Singer) to be your moral expert.

Can still be called a moral expert, contrary to your assertion. Just concede that you were wrong.

Sure, I will, and take infanticide to be an example of nonreligious morality.

[Nucego]

No no no, I want you say clearly and directly what you want to happen to those who refuse to pay for your ridiculous fine. Say it.

Start seizing assets

That's cute. Doesn't take much to fend the seizers off. Just threaten them enough and they won't dare enforce said fine again.

[The Parkus Empire]

Start seizing assets

That's cute. Doesn't take much to fend the seizers off. Just threaten them enough and they won't dare enforce said fine again.

Hm, well, you sure got me there.

[Andsed]

Ok as an atheist this offends me greatly. Saying atheist don´t have morals is dumb for one huge reason. That is YOU DON¨T NEED RELIGION TO HAVE MORALS. If we do this council atheist leaders need to be included. Granted this censoring shows based off religion is a dumb idea.

I said you have no moral *experts*

Religious atheists, like Buddhist clergy, could obviously be included

So only ¨Religious atheists¨ would be included (BTW Religious atheists is a dumb term since atheist are atheist since they are not religious but whatever.)I am going to assume that normal atheist who are not religious at all would not be included. That is a dumb idea since any show that is does not favor religion and even shows it flaws would be censored. Also on the moral expert thing how do you define moral expert?

[Cetacea]

I say Ban Country Music, if you just take Kenny Rogers as an example his songs advocate for drunkeness, gambling, infidelity, spousal abuse, vigilantism and murder

[The South Falls]

I say Ban Country Music, if you just take Kenny Rogers as an example his songs advocate for drunkeness, gambling, infidelity, spousal abuse, vigilantism and murder

Mostly alcoholism. Ban rock because it advocates for 'sex with youths', ban classical because 'it can incite negative emotions', and ban dubstep because it advocates 'loud disturbing of the peace'.

[Dylar]

Heavy metal is full of violence and anger.

Not all.

American Academy of Pediatrics argues the lyrics of heavy metal music influence risky behavior and attitudes, some studies even show heavy metal listners are at a higher risk of suicide and self harm.

Gib source.

If it is the government’s responsibility to protect society, should heavy metal music be banned?

No

Clearly, heavy metal should be restricted and controlled, maybe we don’t have to ban all of it, maybe only some? Maybe violence and anger aren’t necessary for musical stlye and we can have decent heavy metal sounding music to satisfy angsty teens. Clearly, music full of rage emotions is not healthy for people to consume.

Or we allow people to make whatever music they want. Also, not everyone listening to metal is an angsty teen.

[His Excellence]

There is a troubling lack of popularized atheist moral experts, but I think that stems mostly from religions having people that put themselves in a position of authority so they can speak for it, while atheists are more likely to discuss such matters on an even playing field.

[The Parkus Empire]

There is a troubling lack of popularized atheist moral experts, but I think that stems mostly from religions having people that put themselves in a position of authority so they can speak for it, while atheists are more likely to discuss such matters on an even playing field.

That doesn't stop there from being experts in science and art.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

I seriously doubt that there are any such thing as moral experts of any kind.

[Katganistan]

Heavy metal is full of violence and anger. Songs like ‘I’m gonna force you at gunpoint to eat me alive’ and ‘f***ed with a knife’. American Academy of Pediatrics argues the lyrics of heavy metal music influence risky behavior and attitudes, some studies even show heavy metal listners are at a higher risk of suicide and self harm. If it is the government’s responsibility to protect society, should heavy metal music be banned? Clearly, heavy metal should be restricted and controlled, maybe we don’t have to ban all of it, maybe only some? Maybe violence and anger aren’t necessary for musical stlye and we can have decent heavy metal sounding music to satisfy angsty teens. Clearly, music full of rage emotions is not healthy for people to consume.

Rock and Roll should be banned, it promotes sex!
Country should be banned, it promotes drinking!
Jazz should be banned, it's the devil's music!
Hymns should be banned, God commits genocide!



Yeah. Now what are we going to listen to, heavy breathing?
Heavy Metal does nothing on its own. Dipshits who want to find an excuse for their antisocial, violent, murderous behaviors will whine and try to blame it when they get caught and have to face the responsibility for their actions.