It has recently come to light that, for Halloween, Jason Aldean dressed as Lil Wayne in a costume that included Aldean's wearing blackface. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jason-aldean-blackface-halloween_56437c8ee4b060377347481f In advance of the coming shit storm, I want to ask "Is what is about to happen to Aldean censorship?" (I'm hoping this will be a discussion about censorship rather than about blackface.) To throw some historical context, I would cite: The Weaver's blacklisting during the red scare. Jerry Lee Lewis' blacklisting for marrying his 13 year old cousin. (legal marriage) The various radio station sponsored "Beatles record smashing" events that followed John Lennon's comment that they were "more popular than Jesus." The more recent blacklisting of the Dixie Chicks and Hank William's Jr. for comments they made about (different) sitting presidents. My opinion is that whether one listens to an artist or not should be based on the music, not on the musician. If I listen to an artist, I'm not endorsing their lifestyle or their beliefs, I'm enjoying the sounds they create. I'm not a fan of boycotts like that. But I am more concerned with, and opposed to, secondary boycotts. "I won't buy Aldean's CD's" is one thing. Protesting and shutting down a store that sells Aldean's CD's is another. Demanding that Broken Bow drop him is similarly obnoxious. Its one thing for a listener to say that a performer's off stage life is so obnoxious that they don't want to listen to them. Its a completely different thing to attempt to prohibit others from making a different choice about that performer. A direct boycott (don't listen to Aldean) is a personal choice. Secondary boycotts (ban him from the market) is taking freedom away from other listeners. Thoughts?
