Dear Reader,

Censorship isn't all-bad...I know that's not the usual argument, but in it's most distilled sense (minus all of the politics surrounding issues of censorship) it's very common. We censor certain information to protect our children. We censor our emotions depending on our situation. We all engage in varying levels of censorship to maintain our survival and safety. In these instances, however, we are the purveyors of what we know and don't know, what we allow to be known and what we allow to remain unknown. It is when an over arching system/government/administrator/etc. is set up to determine the extent of our knowledge that we hesitate. I believe, rightfully so.

In this issue we've presented explorations into different forms of censorship. In "You Really Lost One", Ms. Mirlande Jean Louis explores the relationship between public emotion and artistic interpretation. Michael Partis explores censorship through a dissection of sensationalism and Analyn Revilla explores the tensions that form as a result of religious divergence and the freedom of the internet.

As always, we invite responses from you, our readers. Let us know what you think. We thank you for your readership, and hope you enjoy the explorations of this, The Censorship Issue.

Sincerely,

The Coup

IN THIS ISSUE:

FEATURE

NONE OF THAT BATIE-BUSINESS HERE:

Jamaica is known as the birth place of Reggae and Dancehall music,

the social conscience of the people. However, over the years the music

has become more prone to censorship.

FEATURE

YOU REALLY LOST ONE:

If the cover was a publicity stunt or some unwise attempt by The New Yorker

to increase their readership, the magazine got the attention they were craving

on the backs of the few politically active Black people on the national stage.

FEATURE

DIGITAL MAOISM:

A recent featured article in the San Francisco Weekly is the ensuing battle

between an internet based group called Anonymous and the Church of

Scientology (CoS). There have been critics of Anonymous who have labeled

their actions against the CoSas cyber-terrorism.

FEATURE

I SPEAK WHAT I WANT, I DON'T CARE HOW YA'LL FEEL:

The controversy behind the title of rapper Nas’ ninth album pushes the greater

public, the Hip-Hop community, and (most specifically) the socially-conscious

members of the African Diaspora to examine how significant words are to

societal ideas.

FEATURE

THE CRUSADE AGAINST US:

In The Land of the Free whomever dares criticize the institutions that control

our lives, but most especially the church, falls victim of a very insidious kind of

censorship that seriously infects the American character: religious censorship.

COLUMN

BANNED LIT:

As the debate over the digitizing of library collections reaches critical mass, we

are forced to question the power of a book.