Censorship and Cancel Culture

By: Mark Thomas

If it wasn’t apparent from DisasterTheory’s very first band photo, I’m someone that is whole heartedly against censorship. Unfortunately as time goes on however, we all find ourselves moving closer and closer to full blown censorship. As a writer and musician, this is discouraging and disheartening to say the least.

It is sadly becoming a more accepted concept to shut down, cancel or otherwise censor any content, television, film or music that ONE person may be offended by. The oddity in my standing on this topic is that I completely understand being offended by some things. I completely support the idea of being offended by some content. However, under no circumstances would I ever condone censoring content because one is offended. I believe that it’s okay to be offended, but I also believe that it’s okay to not care if someone is offended. They have the right and ability to not consume that content, turn the channel, switch stations, not buy a particular artist’s music, not watch a particular film, etc.

What we have today however is that many people aren’t changing the channel. They instead want to make it so that no one else has the ability to make up their own minds as to whether or not THEY themselves are offended by the content.

Make no mistake, I’ve always felt that artistic expression is supposed to be offensive (at least to some). It’s supposed to be outside of “the norm.” That’s what makes it unique expression and unique art. Every piece of art is not supposed to conform and be the same as previous pieces of art by others. That is the true definition of eliminating artistic value. It’s the artist putting their perspective into a form of art and telling THEIR story. It’s not about the artist telling YOUR story or conforming to YOUR beliefs.

The fact remains that we are currently living in unprecedented times in which many artists feel they need to be careful of what they create, what they write, what they say and what they do. They realize that if one single solitary person misunderstands the artwork and becomes offended by it, the artist could lose their livelihood, their career, and their passion. Rather than the offended choosing to actually talk about the art and give an attempt to understand it, they feel that they can’t be wrong in their interpretation (because they typically feel they can’t be wrong in general), they instead attack the artist.

Rest assured that I personally will not alter my lyrics or our music to conform to the easily offended. I want you to be offended. That is often my intent. That’s not to say that I don’t care about you as a person. It’s not to say that I don’t care about your fight. It’s not to say that I don’t care about your cause. I’m simply saying that I want you to be offended because I want you to think. If you’re offended by things that have happened to me in my life that I let out in our music, if you’re offended by my perception, if you’re offended by my take on the world and the way I see things….GOOD. Be offended! THEN, let’s talk about it.