With today’s growing appetite for interaction, whether that is through social media or in person, we will often either see or hear items that may be offensive to us. These terms can be identified as offensive speech and offensive conduct. Although that may sound the same, there are differences. In the case of Cohen v. California (1971), Paul Cohen was charged and convicted of disturbing the peace for wearing a jacket in a California courthouse for wearing a jacket that stated “Fuck the draft.” At the time that Mr. Cohen was wearing the jacket, it was during the era of disgust with the Vietnam War. Although he did not incite a riot for the jacket he was wearing, the arresting officer felt that the mere uttering of the word fuck on his jacket
A very controversial court case in American history was Texas vs. Johnson (1984). In 1984, a man named Gregory Lee Johnson followed a group of anti – Reagan protesters to oppose the American exploitation of third world countries. This act of rebellion resulted in the burning of the American flag. Out of a total of approximately one hundred demonstrators who were involved in this ordeal, Johnson was solely charged with a crime. Johnson was arrested under Texas law, which made the burning of the United States or Texas flags crimes. Johnson was convicted and sentenced to one year in jail and fined two thousand dollars for his crime in restitution. Texas reasoned that the police were preventing
The case was heard by the Supreme Court on November 12th, 1968 to a packed court house. The main constitutional question at hand was if a prohibition against the wearing of armbands in public school, as a form of symbolic protest, violates the First Amendment's freedom of speech and expression. Attorney Dan L. Johnson argued on the Tinker’s behalf, proclaiming that the students had the constitutional right, as per the 1st amendment freedom of speech and expression, to wear the black armbands as a form of symbolic speech. On the other hand, attorney Allan A. Herrick defended the school board’s actions, inciting that the prohibition of armbands was necessary to prevent and stifle any violence or disorder. The topic of discussion during the oral arguments centered largely upon whether Tinker’s protest was disruptive to the class environment. Johnson argued that the anti-Vietnam protest, although sparking some talk, was undisruptive to school, citing that there was no evidence of disruption in any of the classes. Herrick, conversely, argued that the Vietnam War was an inflammatory issue, and that armbands invoked violence, especially since a
In the case of the Maryland and Craig case, the victim was not protected under the Confrontation Clause. The clause was a violation of the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause. At first, its purpose was to eliminate the face to face between the accuser and the child. The amendment was compelled toward supporting the child but overlooking the rights of the accuser because it eliminates the face-to-face confrontation between the two. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court's stated that the hearsay fulfills the Confrontation Clauses regardless if the victim was a presence of sufficient indicia of reliability(Goodman, 1995). The accuser challenges the law by stating that not only their Sixth Amendment was violated but their Fourteenth Amendment right
In determining whether others would be likely to comprehend the intended message the factual context in which the alleged expressive conduct occurs is paramount. Spence, 418 U.S. at 410; Johnson, 491 U.S. at 397. Other factors that influence whether the viewer is likely to understand the message includes, the timing of the conduct, the political or social conditions surrounding the conduct, and the viewer’s personal knowledge. Spence, 418 U.S. at 410. In Spence, the defendant affixed a peace sign to an American flag, which he hung upside down outside his window to protest the United States invasion of Cambodia and the Kent State killings. Id. The Court held that defendant’s conduct was likely to be understood because the activity was concurrent with the aforementioned events, which made it unlikely “for the great majority of citizens to miss the drift of [defendant’s] point at the time that he made it.” Id. Similarly, in Johnson, the Court held that the defendant’s conviction for burning the American flag in political protest violated his First Amendment right to free speech. Johnson, 491 U.S. at 397. The Court held that defendant’s burning of the flag was expressive conduct covered by
The case under consideration is Fighting words and offensive speech of Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire 1942.
In December of 1965 Mary Beth Tinker, John Tinker, and Christopher Eckhardt were suspended from the Des Moines public school system for wearing black armbands supporting a truce during the Vietnam War (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, n.d). Mary Beth and John’s younger siblings, Hope and Paul, also participated in the protest (Tinker v. Des Moines, 2013). Mary Beth, John, and Christopher’s suspension was lifted following the Christmas break when the students’ planned protest ended and they no longer were going to wear the armbands (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, n.d). The students’ parents sued the school district on behalf of their children (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community
This essay is purposed for the evaluation of the provocative case, The State of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson, more commonly referred to as O.J. Simpson. On the 12th of June, 1994 the homicide of Nicole Simpson, O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife, occurred at her home. Reports of a body sprawled out the front of Nicole Simpson’s house were made through a 911 call. On arrival, police made the discovery of Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman’s dead bodies outside the house. The review of this investigation will be achieved through; Assessment of the key aspects of the process of investigation. Evaluation of the main investigative flaws made throughout the investigation. Identifying strategies to prevent these flaws from happening in
The issue of Tinker v. Des Moines ISD was that students were to wear black arm bands to school in protest of the Vietnam War; however the school warned that anyone wearing the armbands would be would be suspended, but the Tinker children wore their armbands to school (they were the only ones of the group to do so) and were suspended leading to Mr. and Mrs. Tinker filing a law suit claiming that the school violated the children's right to freedom of speech and expression. The court ruled against the school district saying that "students do not shed their constitutional rights at the school house gates. In doing so the court protected what has come to be known as "symbolic speech." In the case of Engle v. Vitale, the Supreme Court ruled that prayers in schools were considered unconstitutional, leading to a ban of all prayers led by teachers in school, even if the prayer was considered voluntary, stating, in a way, that there was some sort of “separation of church and state” which is not true. Lastly, New York Times v. Sullivan focused more on the freedom of the press, ruling that “actual malice” must be proven to support a finding of libel against a public figure.
Magical realism is when events, have a magical aspect to them, are entered or set into the mundane world and is naturally accepted into reality. It can include cultural and historical realities placed into ordinary worlds, supernatural people or creatures are otherwise viewed as normal, and even metamorphosis is considered a normal day to day event rather than a miracle. Magical realism may seem like other genres of fiction, however it has its own unique characteristics to characterize it as its own.
• Harassment: behaviour deemed offensive by the recipient. Employees can claim they find something offensive even when it's not directed at them.
Legal Authority. The California law requires law authorization offices to record the racial and personality qualities of any individual ceased or kept. It ought to give an essential straightforwardness about what officers are doing out in the city. That law makes California the national pioneer as far as the information it is gathering. "Seventeen percent of captures in California that are expected racial profiling are white; whatever is left of captures are black individuals." Racial profiling had been a tremendous issue in California for quite a while; since back in the late nineteenth century. There have dependably been hordes and uproars for the state to put a restriction on racial profiling, yet nothings ever been finished. Things needed
When it comes to court cases, every case that is heard in court is heard for one reason or another.
“Expression may be symbolic, as well as verbal. Symbolic speech is conduct that expresses an idea. Although speech is commonly thought of as verbal expression, we are all aware of nonverbal communication. Sit-ins, flag waving, demonstrations, and wearing…protest buttons are examples of symbolic speech. While most forms of conduct could be said to express ideas in some way, only some conduct is protected as symbolic speech. In analyzing such cases, the courts ask whether the speaker intended to convey a particular message, and whether it is likely that the message was understood by those who viewed it. In order to convince a court that symbolic conduct should be punished and not protected as speech, the government must show it has an important reason. However, the reason cannot be that the government disapproves of the message conveyed by the symbolic conduct” (Arbertman 442-3).
The difference between offensive words and oppressive slurs are there intent and impact they have on the recipient. Many words can be offensive in today 's world, and as the line between being politically correct and free speech becomes muddled, it’s easy for the words that comes out of our mouths to be hurtful. For example, calling someone “stupid” today would be
In Brink’s discussion of, Millian Principles, Freedom of Expression, and Hate Speech, he distinguishes between low value and high value speech. The former is speech that plays no essential role in the exposition of ideas and is of such slight social value as a step to the truth that any benefit is outweighed by the social interest in order and morality. Examples of low value speech include threats, fighting words, incitement of illegal activity, libel, and obscenity. In contrast, high value speech is speech that contributes to public discourse. Moreover, it possesses content-based restrictions that are subject to strict scrutiny, laws that are necessary to meet a state interest.