Creative artists should be given freedom to express their ideas through words, pictures, music or films. Some people nevertheless think that the government should restrict artists' freedom of expression. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Art is a powerful form of communication and is an indispensible part of human civilization. Nowadays, it is also the topic of debate wherein people argue about the liberty given to artists. I believe, while freedom of expression is key to creativity, art must be censored if it contains elements that hurt cultural and religious beliefs or inculcate social and political unrest. Creativity is pre-requisite for innovation. An artist plays a crucial role in the development of society by giving us new ideas, opinions and criticisms in the form of pictures, writing, music or films. It is vital for artists to have the freedom to express without restrictions to be able to develop a masterpiece. They use their imagination to write novels, articles and poems describing the social and cultural issues which not only give awareness to the people but also motivates them to raise their voice against injustice. Some novels later inspire movies, and some science fiction books and movies give creative ideas to scientists. Limitations on the thought process will hinder their creativity. Art never flourishes under restrictions; however, unrestricted creative expression can even generate social tension and political unrest. When an artist expresses his view in a way that hurts a particular community or a political party, it can lead to communal riots and political instability. For example, society needs to protect children from harmful images and violent materials, and sometimes these ideas increase the criminal activities in the nation. To elaborate further, there are many instances where painters have created God’s and deities in a way which hurt various religions. In this case it may be necessary for government to take action to limit some of these works of art. To conclude, artistic freedom is fundamental human right, if too many restrictions are in place, artists will not be able to express their views publicly, thus limiting the development of society. However, some limitations may be necessary to protect people and to avoid unreasonable offence.