Creativity To Blame

I have been working on my timeline for my new History of Videogames class. I am currently working on censorship. We that work in entertainment have to watch out because creativity is always attacked as the reason for teenage actions. Here is a very, very small list that does not even include the 1930s attacks on Betty Boop and other evil animation.

1933
German Student Association`s Main Office for Press and Propaganda proclaimed a nationwide Action against the Un-German Spirit, and burn un-German books

1934
New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia outlaws Pulp Magazines because they are violent and sexy and corrupters of youth.

1935
August 30th New York Times attacks Pulp Magazines and Pulp Magazine Cover Art.

President Herbert Hoover forms Committee on Resent Social Trends to study the affects of Pulp Magazines on Teen violence.

1941
NYC mayor Fiorello LaGuardia outlaws all pinball machines in NYC as part of his war on crime. He destroys pinball machines for press conference and new reels. 3,000 pin games destroyed in 3 weeks. 7,000 pound of scrap and 3,000 pounds of balls given to World War II scrap drive.

1954
Dr. Fredric Wertham, publishes Seduction of the Innocent blaming Comic Books for all teen violence. He sees Batman and Robin as homosexual lovers, Wonder Woman has a bondage subtext to him and because she is strong she is a lesbian, EC Comics were just plain evil with their ghosts and zombies and news vendors are forced to sell objectionable comic books by distributors.

Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency led by Estes Kefauver destroys Comic Book industry. Of the 125 Comic Book companies before the hearings only 6 remain in business. (my friends and teachers were hurt by this)

Comics Code Authority was voluntarily established by publishers to self-censor their Comic Book titles.

EC publisher William Gaines moves to a larger format that is not subject to the Comic Code and starts Mad Magazine.

1962
New York Bishop Burke forbids Catholic school students from dancing to The Twist. Burke considers R&B music, and its associated dances, to be lewd and un-Christian.

1967
Against his wishes, Frank Zappa`s record company removes eight bars of his song Let`s Make the Water Turn Black. This occurs when a well-intentioned executive from Verve Records hears the lyric, And I still remember mama with her apron and her pad, feeding all the boys at Ed`s cafe. The executive thinks the referred-to pad is a sanitary napkin.

1969
In January, New York police seize 30,000 copies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono`s Two Virgins album

1980
In October, Youth Minister Art Diaz organizes a group of local teenagers who conduct a record burning at the First Assembly Church of God in Des Moines, Iowa, including albums by the Beatles, Ravi Shankar, Peter Frampton, and the soundtrack to the movie Grease. A similar burning takes place a few months later in Keoku, Iowa, where a church group burns the work of The Carpenters, John Denver, and Perry Como.

1985
Frank Zappa VS the Mother of Prevention
Congressional Wives lead by Tipper Gore form Parents` Music Resource Center to censor the music industry that is corrupting the youth of American.

Frank Zappa makes a Statement To Congress on September 19, 1985 defending Freedom of Speach. He later releases an album making fun of Tipper Gore and PMRC.

1990
Missouri legislators introduce a bill in January that forbids the sale of records containing lyrics that are violent, sexually explicit or perverse. Similar measures are introduced in 20 other states

1993
Senators Joseph Lieberman (D. of Connecticut) and Herbert Kohl (D. of Wisconsin) launch a Senate hearings on video game violence.

1997
In June, Texas Governor George W. Bush signs into law a rider to a state appropriations bill. The rider requires state pension funds to divest any assets that are invested in record companies that produce obscene albums.

1999
After the Columbine High School Massacre Tuesday, April 20 violent movies and video games blamed by lawmakers for the attack on the high school.

2001
Harry Potter books burned around the country and world.

Some people always have to have an outside reason for why their teens act the way they do. It could never have anything to do with the way they raise their children. Never! It is your fault Mr. Entertainment Creator, you are evil!