The Many Face of Freedom?
Freedom is a concept that people are often willing to die for and it is the cause of much fighting. However, few people ever claim to dislike freedom. This raises an interesting question: how can people fight over what is generally considered to be a positive idea? Does this mean that someone must be against freedom? The answer is that people cannot agree on what freedom is, thus numerous groups can claim to be "for freedom" while strongly disagreeing on the means by which to achieve it. These groups often argue vehemently and passionately, trying to convince the majority that their side is right. However, emotion is only one part of deciding who is more persuasive. I offer two examples of disagreements
…show more content…
In other words, they saw their campus, and in turn America as a whole, moving towards the exact type of tyrannical government that they were most opposed to. They saw these actions as representative of a totalitarian or fascist government. To them, freedom meant smaller government and more control by the people, a more democratic democracy. Starting with the society on their campus, the students saw their ideal democracy being taken away and more of their rights being infringed upon.
This led to a disagreement between students and authority figures over freedom. The administration saw freedom as the absence of Communism, and saw the students' views as dangerously close to Communist. Since this was occurring during both the Cold War and the Vietnam War, Communism was a tangible threat to American security. Freedom of speech played a key part in this argument, since the students' believed in absolute freedom of speech, which the authorities often saw as dangerous. They too believed in the First Amendment right of the Constitution, but at the same time they felt that certain speech should be limited. Such as speeches made by Socialists, Anarchists, and Communists. As Reagan put it, the students were going "from free speech to filthy speech"("Freedom vs. Anarchy On Campus", 346).
As a result, the two groups accused each other of threatening the majority's freedom, while both claimed to represent the majority. The conflict became an
As American universities and colleges grow their demographics, diversity and ideas there is a continued and an accelerated debate regarding freedom of speech within these higher education institutions. College campuses are struggling to simultaneously provide a learning environment that is inclusive to traditionally unrepresented students while also providing an environment that allows for ideas to be challenged and debated no matter how offensive or controversial.
Despite their opinions, free speech was a great way in this situation for students to rally together and publically inform the rest of campus of their beliefs. In the school newspaper, The Daily Emerald, CJ Ciaramelle wrote “About 300 students from across the campus community — student unions, Greek Life, the ASUO, the Survival Center, the Women’s Center — showed up at the meeting to protest the Forum” (1). Although the majority of people protested against the forum the right to free speech, it is important because it allows students to make decisions on their own and invite students to do the same.
1. Members of the Catholic or non-Trinitarians would be excluded from toleration under Maryland Law.
“Free Inquiry? Not on Campus” by John Leo is an important essay that shows exactly how important it is to protect people's political views and opinions. In Leo's essay, he elaborates how times have changed and how we live in more of a liberal left-wing society and because of this everyone has to be more politically correct. Leo talks about the social change universities and colleges on how they used to promote free speech, but now are more like the speech police telling us what's opinions you should have on any given subject and any other opinion is considered wrong. Leo gives an example of this and writes “in October 2007, for instance, a student mob stormed a Columbia University stage, shutting down speeches by two members of the Minutemen, an anti-illegal immigration group.The students shouted they have no right to
America is the universal symbol of freedom. But is it really free? Does the history of the United States stay true to the ideas of our forefathers? Or has the definition been altered to fit American policies? Has freedom defined America? Or has America defined freedom? I believe America was at first defined by freedom, then after time, America defined freedom, altering the definition to fit the niche it fits in, but still keeping key components so it still seems to be staying true to the ideas of America’s founding fathers.
The 1960’s was the height of many civil rights and anti-war protests. During this time, student activist became more radical. It began mostly on college campuses when students would organize “teach-ins” to express their opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1969, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in a case called Tinker v. Des Moines. This case changed the history of America because it gave students freedom to voice their opinions. In the case of Tinker v. Des Moines, the question of whether or not the First Amendment’s free speech rights extend to students’ symbolic speech can be analyzed by examining the background, considering the arguments, and reviewing the impact.
The war in Vietnam did not affect only matured political leaders. In fact, one of the largest demographics affected by the war was the population of young adults ages 18-35. These people, who were commonly referred to as ‘college aged’, experienced a time of revolution during 1961-1975. Previous to the war, students in universities could not voice their opinions on political or social issues. The voting age at the time was actually 21, meaning many students in college could not even vote in elections. Despite their oppression, many students felt that their opinions were valid and wanted to be heard. This birthed the Free Speech Movement. Programs and organizations such as Chicago’s JOIN (Jobs or Income Now), SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), and other campus-based political organizations fueled the fight for equality of all ages. Much of the Free Speech Movement’s success can be credited to Mario Savio’s intense speeches. The generation of students in
In his book, Unlearning Liberty (2014) Greg Lukianoff, President of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) asserts that violations of free speech— whether by students, faculty, or administration—will have devastating effects in greater society. Lukianoff supports his assertion by describing cases he has seen throughout his career at FIRE. From administration punishing students to professors getting fired for clearly protected speech. Lukianoff’s purpose is to point out the misguided lessons about freedom that are being taught on campus and to encourage his audience to stand up for freedom on campus. Lukianoff writes in an earnest tone to an audience who recognizes the importance of freedom in America society.
The nation's leftists, whether in academia or the news media tout themselves as advocates of free speech. Back in 1964, it was Mario Savio a campus leftist who led the Free Speech Movement at the Berkeley campus of the University of California, a movement that without question played a vital role in placing American universities center stage in the flow of political ideas no matter how controversial, unpatriotic and vulgar.
Since the creation of the United States, the meaning of freedom has changed to meet changing attitudes. Throughout our nation’s history, there have been significant periods of racial, economic and civil rights inequalities. There are different meanings for freedoms that have been established throughout the historical period of the United States. During this modern era, the US had certain periods of time that lived up to the ideals of freedom such as the Gilded Age. In opposition, the US has also had periods of time where our ideals of freedom failed to meet the requirements of our nation, a prime example being the late 1940s when the US entered the Cold War and led to the anti-communism period of McCarthyism which ultimately restricted
One of the main issues is a student’s right to free speech. This was brought to everyone’s attention back in 1943 in
In the conclusive part of The Two Faces of American Freedom, Aziz Rana utilizes arguments from the civil rights period to explain how projects of racial and social equality and inclusion employed during the last fifty years have not worked, as many people, especially blacks, poor whites and immigrant communities, have been excluded and considered subordinate groups. Rana also questions the imperial role obtained by the United States in the world since World War II. Rana starts off by describing the fact that recent projects of equality and inclusion have been centered on reducing the barriers that impede nonwhite people to attain elite corporate and governmental positions, doing very little to change the lives of the majority of the excluded population. These projects were not successful as they basically only resulted in changing the racial composition of wealthy groups. Focusing
The American Ideological Consensus is that “…the American people have shared much of the same ideals, the same basic principles, and the same patterns of belief” (McClenaghan 104). When America filled itself with ideologically homogenous people, their beliefs started to define our nation and became American identities. If asked what they think of America, peoples of other nations would say that the roads are made of glass, opportunity is in the air, and civil rights are plentiful. These accounts maybe accentuated; however, the underlying message is that the American people have more freedoms then the peoples of other nations do. The most widely known American identity is freedom, and even though that American identity has been tried and
All the liberties we have such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, etc… could be the cause of all the conflicts today. Freedom probably makes way for political conflict the most, and as we know these conflicts can prevent our government from quickly responding to domestic and foreign problems. A free society also allows people to express their views how and when they want which can be troublesome. Just think of the Nazis and the Fascists. They could not have attained power if they had not once lived in a free country. What if we limited free speech? If free speech was denied to groups like racists, then racism could be easier to eliminate. Maybe the Oklahoma City bombing would have never occurred if free speech had been denied to the leaders of radical right militias. It seems like we are still paying the price of freedom constantly, doesn't it?
In the two videos provided by FIRE, certain situations where students’ basic rights were violated were shown. In the first video presented by FIRE, I was very surprised to learn that some colleges opt to control what you wear, what you post on Facebook or what you say. Instead of educating young adults, it appears that colleges nowadays are trying to babysit them in every dimension of life, including their personal online social