Humboldt Nation: Original Visionary ART.

Anthro 306 Greg Vanderlaan (book report)
Violence and Repetition in B. E. Ellis's "American Psycho"

Richard Snyder (CEO Simon and Schuster) decided that his company would not allow the book "American Psycho"to be published. They wrote off the half a million dollar adance to the author as a total loss and shredded the books. His feeling was that not only was the book obscenely violent, it was boring too. Critics said it was too repetative. Another publisher, Alfred Knopf, printed this book and sales were poor.

In a footnote, the big question of censorship in America was dismissed as beyond the scope of this article. If you OWN a printing press, you have freedom of the press... If you do NOT own a press, you have to write what the owner wants. The invention of the XEROX machine encouraged may people to write their own oncensored magazines. This was especially popular within the "Punk" community of Generation X. Fanzines became the new media of choice due to the absense of "Parental Control".

Blogging on the Internet allows the average American to post their thoughts online for the world to read. There are so many blogs that the chances of
many people reading your words is small. In general, only the people that you invite read your page. What a person publishes is not checked for
accuracy or truthfulness. A skilled computer person can get their words searched by GOOGLE so that random web surfers will notice them.

The UNABOMBER, Ted Kasynski, wanted his "Manifesto" printed in the New York Times. He was successful in getting his ecology message published. I wonder if he would have set so many bombs if he had the ability to write a blog. It might have relieved his need to have his words read. I feel that the process of blogging let's me get things off my chest and has mental health benefits. I rant and rave online and then feel calmer.

Emailing is a great stress reliever too.

Commercial radio in the USA is almost all owned by the Clear Channel Corporation. They have marketing programs on their computers that select which songs to play. There is a strict playlist that appeals to specific target audiences. This makes the broadcasting of anything that is new and different impossible. This corporate censorship can only be overcome by public radio, and internet radio stations.

A skilled computer person may publish their own songs on a band website.
Getting paid for music is somewhat more tricky. In the olden days, a FM radio station could select to play a record and pay royalties to the performers and songwriters. Nowdays, even the major record labels are having difficulty getting paid for their product due to napster and its clones. Commercial radio is regulated by the FCC and Howard Stern's shows on Clear Channel received large fines and then were taken off the station. Internet radio has no government censorship but a dramatically smaller audience. While we have the tools to publish, corporations control the vast share of the market.

In conclusion, distribution systems owned by corporations allow them to
censor content. Popularity and sales decide what should be published. The lesson of Ellis's book was that it was not the obscene violence that prevented it from being printed by Simon and Schuster, but the lack of sales potential. Their decision to not publish might have been different if they had a best seller on their hands.

We have the technology to print or record anything but getting the public to notice is difficult.