Art and Censorship

Although I am not an artist myself this weeks discussion of art and obscenity has really got me thinking.  I really do not understand why people need to get so offended by others people's art.  If it is offensive to them then why are they looking at it.  No piece of art appeals to everyone so why do people feel that if a piece of art does not appeal to them they should have the right to make it unable to be shown.  In our class discussion we got onto the subject of money and I really think that money has a lot to do with these types of situations.  When people contribute to certain causes they want to see that cause using the money in ways they like.  I understand contributors to an organization should have a right to voice their opinions about how their money is spent but this type of manipulation for personal values is wrong.  I really wish money wasn't such a huge factor in world and people could just act on their values and not the values of their bank account.   

'The Ashley Treatment'

I was looking on CNN and found this article.  I'm not 100% sure how it has to do with free speech but I think it is really interesting.  The article describes the actions of two parents who made a very controversial decision about the care of their ten year old mentally disabled daughter.  Their daughter was born with brain-damage and a condition described as static encephalopathy, or cerebral palsy.  Ashley's parents made the decision to preform controversial growth-attenuation therapy.  This surgery treatment prohibited the growth hormone making it easier for the caregivers to take care of this young girl.  Ashley will never walk or talk and doctors who perform these treatments feel that it makes a significant impact on the caregivers ability to provide a quality life.  Although this treatment is done by doctors through out the country it was particularly controversial in this case because it was illegal in the state where it was done and the doctor who performed the treatment committed suicide in the year after.  This case was published in a medical journal but did not gain more wide spread attention until the family posted their account of the situation on their blog.  Their hope was to inform more parents on this possible treatment but instead they gained a lot of negative attention from people who did not agree what they have done.  Like I said I'm not sure how exactly this would relate to free speech but I think it is interesting.  Let me know what you think about this controversial case.  

Money, Politics and Control

In this past week's seminar my group got to talking about how free speech can be predicted by money.  How often to we get to here the views of the minorities or poorer populations.  Looking at any major part of our culture the most dominate people (the ones with the loudest voice) tend to be those with the most money and power.    

As a Barrack Obama supporter I think it is amazing that he raised more then $55 million in the month of February.  In addition to that I think it is incredibly important to note that %90 of this money was raised through donations of less than $100.  To me this is inspiring because it shows where his allegiances lie and it seems to be in the people who generally do not have a voice in politics.  Do you think this important?  Does it matter where a campaign gets its money?  If so, is this the best/worst way?  I haven't been following politics for very long so I love to hear perspectives from others.