My paper covers Plato and what music is acceptable to him and why. I point out how he likens music to the condition of the State; thereby calling for total control and censorship so as to control and censor the condition of the state. For, if music changed, then the State would be in danger of changing with it. It covers the beginning of his argument when he censors stories based on the idea that youth/man can't differentiate between allegory and reality. Then I review how he wants to censor speech and poetry because of how it "creates" brave and courageous men, but also lamenting, weeping and wailing men. And lastly I discuss how this ultimately leads to his argument for censoring music based on all the previous concessions. Simple Man is an example of a contemporary song that I think Plato would allow, as it comes down as advice to a man from his mother on how to live like a simple man. And I think that Angel by Sarah Mclachlan is an example of a song that would be banned because it incites weeping, wailing and lamentation. It's often played at funerals, and it brings me to tears when I hear it played over the pictures of abandoned and abused cats and dogs in that commercial about adoption.
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