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Freedom Of Speech In Political Cartoons

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The editorial, “weaponized words” written by Kate Manne and Jason Stanley is a cry for help in the world of politics, which argues that the freedom of speech laws allow for the voices of dominant social groups to overpower those that are inferior. This opinion is also shown in the third political cartoon provided, that shows two different social groups under the same “freedom of speech” umbrella, who have to deal with each other constantly trying to oppress the other. These laws make it hard for any advancement of the lower-class societies.
The belief that the freedom of speech laws, or the first amendment, need to be more concrete can be seen in the first political cartoon. This cartoon shows, again, two rival social groups, both are equals, however one of the social groups is using their freedom of speech in a improper way, and they are not being punished or prohibited in any way. This shows the oppression of a certain social group that is not being stopped. Much like in the editorial, which states that Yale students are being pressured into not wearing certain halloween costumes because they “offend others”, the cartoon shows the use of …show more content…

The author(s) stated that to truly have freedom of speech, one must be able to “question, contradict, and even lampoon the assertions of others” meaning you should be able to disagree with another person's claims, publicly if needed or wanted. This is shown in the second cartoon, where the NRA member is telling people, in a rude and unnecessary manner, that he disagrees with what they are doing. At the top of the cartoon, it states “if only we had an ‘NRA’ to defend the first amendment” which shows the belief that the first amendment is not getting enough support and protection, yet smaller programs like the NRA are standing up for less important things than the freedom of speech, like newspaper

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