Banned music and movies

Authorities in the Russian Republic of Chechnya have announced a ban on music that they consider too fast or slow.

Minister of Culture Musa Dadayev announced the decision to limit all musical, vocal, and choreographic compositions to a tempo ranging from 80 to 116 beats per minute (BPM), Russian state news agency TASS reported.

Officials hope to eradicate the “polluting” Western influence in the region.

This means 13 of the 31 songs on Taylor Swift’s new album are banned in Chechnya.

Meanwhile, in China, the authoritarian state opposes horror movies because it rejects any notion of the supernatural. As a result, filmmakers are forced to create devices to explain away supernatural elements in their films in order to bypass censors.

In some films, everything is framed as just a dream or drug-induced hallucination.

In others, scientific nonsense is awkwardly inserted into the conclusion to explain away any possible supernatural elements.

I mention this stupidity as a gentle reminder of our nation’s greatness and the blessings of liberty, even when things seem less than perfect these days.

Congress may be on track to become one of the least productive in US history (thanks to a Republican-led House of Representatives), but at least we can dance to “Footloose” and watch Ghostbusters absent any governmental interference.