Freedom Of Speech : The Right To Freedom Of Speech

The First Amendment, one of the most controversial amendments in this day of age, is the freedom of speech. Many people believe that people should have the freedom of speech without any restrictions but others believe differently. In the movie “We are Legion” the First Amendment is viewed differently between the two groups, the Anonymous and the rest of the world. While the world believes that some information should be confidential and have restrictions on what should be said and how it can be said. Anonymous believes that information should be made public for the public and their actions should be protected by the First Amendment. Although the First Amendment protects the group, many people believe that they should still be charged and tried for releasing confidential information to the public. Should people be charged for exercising a right that was given to them by the country that they live in? While some people believe that freedom of speech is limited, others want no restrictions on the amendment, except for example if you are in someone’s home and have limited speech. As a citizen of the United States, I do not believe that Anonymous is doing the right thing even if they are protected by the First Amendment.

Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right. Whether or not on a college campus, people (especially college students) should have the right to speak freely. Everyone does have the right to speak freely, because it is one of the twenty-seven amendments. Colleges all around the United States are now home to many restrictions on free speech. For example, the idea and use of “free speech zones” has made its way to colleges everywhere. A “free speech zone” is a sidewalk sized place where students are allowed to speak their minds freely on college campuses. I know what you’re thinking. This sounds ridiculous. Why are there specific places for people to speak their minds? Aren’t colleges suppose to be a place where students speak their minds and learn new things? Universities should not be able to put any restrictions on free speech.

Philadelphia 1787, our forefathers set forth the ideas that would establish a country of free men escaping the persecution of England. They created a set of right that every American or immigrant, has an equal opportunity too. When someone tries to take this away, by this paper, they are our enemy. A right that everyone knows is freedom of speech. As an American, I live in a country that allows for me to be whatever I want or say whatever I want, as long as it does not directly hurt an individual or group. Due to current events, freedom of speech is limited for a group of individuals. Oddly enough it's not the group one would think; it is not the Neo-Nazi’s who killed someone in Charlottesville or the group of white kids who hung a biracial child from a tree, it is the NFL players who kneeled during the anthem. A right is a right no matter what race, religion, creed, gender, or sexual orientation. Although I do not think what the NFL stands behind is solid ground, I still believe that their right to protest should not be taken away. Presidents Trump's words toward these players who did not stand were utterly uncalled for. I do not want someone who directly called a group of citizens “sons of bitches” to protect a country of millions. His statement that they should be “fired” for protesting is absurd. They, as with millions of others think that the treatment of minorities in this country is unfair, that is why they are protesting there is no other reason. If Trump wants to suppress their free speech, he must be equal and suppress all forms including his white supremacist brothers.

Recently, many NFL players have been protesting the national anthem in hope to bring awareness to oppression of black people. However, many people have been claiming that these acts are disrespecting the military and the country. Part of living in the U.S.A. is having the freedom to protest and not being stripped of that right because someone doesn't think it's the appropriate time.

As Americans we are all very lucky to have the right to freedom of speech. It is a powerful tool that helps our society develop and evolves into what it is today. It’s a way for us to share information and ideas, express our mind and even communicate with the government. Freedom of speech is something so important that we practice everyday. However freedom of speech is something that is also very easily abused. We tend to just speak our minds all the time when sometimes we are not even sure what we are talking about. We think that we can say whatever we would like to and its okay because we have the right to free speech right? That is where we are wrong. Free speech isn’t always free, and is actually restricted in many areas.

There is a famous written saying that adheres to the attitude of every important figure throughout world history, “I disapprove of what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” This statement allows all individuals to say and be who they wish to be in our society today (Hall, 1906, p. 199).

When the words, “freedom of speech” are uttered today, it brings about much conflict and tension. The vagueness of the First Amendment is a pretty good indication of how different times were back when the Constitution and everything along with it were created. Back then, all the Founding Fathers wanted was the establish a democracy using the lessons they had learned from the tyranny of the British King. They wanted more freedom and power to the people. In the modern era, everything has changed, and our people are now separated by conflicts that were definitely not considered in the 1700s, such as racism, sexism, and religious freedom, among countless others. A modern day interpretation is certainly helpful, but I think that even with the ambiguity of the amendment, it should be clear that there is a very fine boundary when it comes to free speech and expression (tentative).

“Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people 's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.” - Winston S. Churchill

There are many issues that revolve around the right to speak freely. There are responsibilities that should be recognized that correlate with the freedom of speech. At what point does one’s words, written or spoken, become inappropriate? Should Americans be held accountable for the things that they might say or write? Should there be consequences for publishing or broadcasting information that is not correct? How are Americans suppose to differentiate what should and should not be deemed common knowledge, or privileged information? These issues are an important aspect of being American. When examining freedom of speech, Americans should be aware of how speech, verbal or written, affects the unity of our nation, government policy and public safety.

For National Football League owners to look past the national anthem protest can be understood because their business is all about football,not so much about politics, and with the protest fans are left to figure out what's right and wrong with certain players kneeling during the national anthem. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a letter to the owners to basically tell them that he would like for all the players to stand for the anthem and hope that they can “move past this controversy” and allow football to “bring people together” again.

Everyday people decide to use words in a hateful way or to bully others. Humans are fallible, which means that they can make bad choices. And the right of speech is not absolute, which means that the boundaries of protected speech have to be constantly assessed. All of these facts complicate America's commitment to free speech, but they also make this commitment courageous. In addition, they leave the legal system with a difficult challenge. On the one hand, the courts are entrusted with protecting this right to free expression, which is so central to our national experience. On the other hand, they are charged with identifying the often blurry edges of this freedom. The following case study is a spot-on example of the difficulty of the First Amendment in the United States.

In 399 B.C, the Greek Philosopher Socrates was persecuted for an early argument promoting free speech. Later on, The Protection of Speech was first introduced when the Magna Carta was signed in 1215, and in 1948, the United Nations stated that free speech is a human right and drafted into the international Declaration of Human rights.The government doesn 't have the right to make a law abridging the freedom of speech because Free Speech is a form of democracy and it 's a fundamental right, it 's unconstitutional, and freedom of speech is vital to the advancement of knowledge and the search for the truth.

As citizens of the United States of America we as human beings have certain unalienable rights listed in The Declaration of Independence, among those are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And among our many liberties one of them listed in our constitution in the 1st amendment is the right to freedom of speech. However, like many liberties, freedom of speech is not absolute under the supreme law of land. What this means is that yes we do have freedom of speech, but it is not protected by the government if it includes obscenity, defamation, fraud, incitement, true threats and speech integral to already criminal conduct. White, K. (2017, June 08) Speech is an important part of our democracy, it gives us the right to speak freely

Recently, there has been debate over whether freedom of speech on public universities and college campuses should be allowed. Many universities have adopted speech codes on campuses. A speech code is defined as any rule or regulation that limits, restricts, or bans speech beyond the strict legal limitations upon freedom of speech or press found in the legal definitions of harassment, slander, libel, and fighting words. Now, the definition of ‘freedom of speech’ is to have the right to express ANY opinions without censorship or restraint. It is recognized as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Still, despite this ‘human right’, college students are being denied to freely speak on college campuses. Students should be able to speak freely on public universities regardless if what they are saying is offensive.

In recent months, Protest of the National Anthem led by NFL (National Football League) players taking a knee rather than standing with their hand over their heart has captivated headline news. The protests, were initiated by a former 49ers backup quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, in response to his dissatisfaction with police brutality and injustices against African Americans. Some might wonder why he would protest the national anthem rather than use another form of protest to convey his message. Those who don’t support the NFL players right to “Freedom of speech” such as our current President, Donald Trump are calling for the players to be fired if they continue to “disrespect” our flag and National Anthem with their peaceful protests. The opposing views raises the questions of social, political, and legal responsibility to both the nation and private businesses.