Only one in five Americans know all the rights listed in the first amendment, said Ken Paulson, executive director of the First Amendment Center.
"At the core of protecting the first amendment is treasuring it," Paulson said.
Paulson narrated the musical program, "Freedom Sings", Tuesday morning at Emens Auditorium.
The program celebrated and explained the first amendment through songs with controversial messages.
The group of seven musicians played the anti-war song "Traveling Soldier" by the Dixie Chicks, and the pro-war song "Have You Forgotten" by Darryl Worley.
The Dixie Chicks dropped from the top of the country charts after a comment by singer Natalie Maines against President Bush, Paulson said.
Radio stations and fans retaliated by not playing the song, destroying concert tickets and cds, and put Worley's song at the top.
When Paulson asked several members of the audience what they thought about this, they all said that fans had a right to boycott the Dixie Chicks.
"When Natalie Maines made her remark, she was exercising her right, and so did the public," Paulson said. "But there's a trend to punish the speaker instead of disagree."
Paulson said that instead of hurting Maines financially and creating a situation where she's afraid to speak her opinion, it would have been better for fans to speak out vocally.
The group performed songs from other artists that have been censored, including Beethoven.
Beethoven was banned during World War I because he was German, and people said his work was the music of the enemy, Paulson said.
A more recent example of censorship is Elvis Presley.
When Presley appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, only his upper torso was shown.
"We couldn't be sure what he was doing below the waist, but we knew it was something dangerous and important," Paulson said in regards to Presley's hip gyrations.
He said that it's good for parents to be concerned about the lyrics their children are listening to, but they shouldn't go overboard.
When "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsman came out, FBI conducted a 30 month search on it because parents were convinced the slurred lyrics encouraged drugs, he said.
The Indiana governor sent out letters to all the radio stations encouraging them to stop playing the song.
"Indiana was the world capital of 'Louie Louie' haters," Paulson said.
In the end, the FBI said there was no hidden message about drugs.
Paulson said that most people take the amendment for granted and aren't aware when of when they're being censored.
According to a survey by the FAC, 49 percent of the American population thinks the first amendment should be restricted.
"Many people are now afraid and are willing to trade freedoms for security," Paulson said. "If we give these rights back to the government too readily though, we may never have the full flavor of them again."
He said that people are also afraid of offending others.
"There's a trend in society today where people are increasingly inhibited in their speech," Paulson said. "The land of the free has become the home of the easily offended."
Freedom Sings was is part of the FAC at Vanderbilt University and was started in November. The performance today was the seventh in a week of college tours.
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