Until Friday I hadn’t heard about the controversy of Blurred Lines, but why would I, it’s a shit song in a shit genre by a shit artist, that in my eyes has no merit at all, however when student unions all over the country start banning it, it brought it to my attention.

Is it about rape, is it condoning rape – I stop at the comparison to Ice T’s CopKiller (a response to Rodney King and the LA riots) as Dorian Lynskey did in the Guardian article – whatever the answer about blurred lines, there is no reason to ban it; don’t listen to it, don’t buy it, boycott concerts but don’t ban it. We have the freedom of speech but also the freedom not to listen and put it in that category ‘shit’ never to be played again, but don’t give notoriety to something that will be forgotten in a couple of months.

Reggae, especially dancehall, is notorious for it’s misogyny and homophobia, so is hip hop, but none tries to ban them why – because its entering the bedroom of white middle-class teenagers. Nothing musically is ever condemned until it effects the white middle classes.

The performance featuring Robin Thicke and Myley ‘twerk’ Cyrus was just laughable and pathetic but has become an example of how exploitative the music industry has become. One the music industry has always been exploitative, anything to make money; the real issue with Cyrus is the hangover from her Hannah Montana day’s and the followers she used to have.

Thicke and Cyrus are simple puppets, not intelligent enough to do anything to make a political statement but free promotion due to scandal and outrage is easy. It remains to be seen as to how much either of them are in control of their careers or even understand the implication soy their actions but banning anything is not the answer.