e of what the PMRC is doing by campaigning at concerts and over the internet. They also get the point across through Rock Out Censorship’s newspaper, the ROC. Woods and Payton call their group" a national grass-roots anti- censorship organization". Woods and Payton started their organization in 1989 to for the sole purpose of fighting the PMRC. What started as a local organization soon branched out. ROC now has chapters in nineteen states, as well as in England and Canada, and ROC has a circulation of 15,000 papers. They have about 45,000 members, a number that is growing quickly. Now ROC is fighting bills like House Bill 2982, sponsored by Pennsylvania state legislator T.J. Ronney, a Democrat that Schiller 9would criminalize the sale of stickered records to minors. "The biggest difference between now and 1989", says Payton," is now we find ourselves fighting these supposed liberals. It was a lot more fun when we were fighting these religious kooks. These other people are supposed to be on our side" (Weisel 50).There are also radio stations that in a sense fight censorship. Going back to the radio station controversy mentioned earlier a third popular black radio station, WPWR, opted for a different route, saying it would lose credibility with its audience if it banned music that reflects the language of urban life. "We've got to speak their language. If the message of the record is "don’t call me a bitch" we have got to allow the artist to get the message across. And sometimes it is necessary for the artists to use language that grabs people’s attention(Viles 90). No matter what side of this topic you are on, the only clear answer is to fight for what you believe in. If you believe that censorship is the right thing to do, write your elected official. If you feel that it is wrong, get Schiller 10petitions started, let the PMRC know that you feel what they are doing is wrong. Get involved, because the only way t...
