Skip to main content

Post 10

 According to our textbook freedom of speech was established in our country because it helps the people have a voice. It also helps facilitate political discussion about our government and political process. I think that freedom of speech is fundamental to being American and having rights pertaining to expression is very important to our way of life. I think that without the freedom of speech we would be in a very different situation than what we know today. Freedom of press wouldn't be a right if we didn't have freedom of speech and that is something to where if something was wrong we wouldn't be able to find out about it because of that. The press in some ways is the voice of the people that will expose government corruption or will undermine something they think is wrong. In today's society I think that it is more worrisome that we have seen that there are limits on our freedom of expression.
Our freedom of expression shouldn't have a cap on it and it shouldn't be something that should be condemned in any way within reason. I think that if there is a cap on criticism of our government and protests then what is our government really saying? I think that a lot of institutions are able to find loop holes within the first amendement. "The Constitution's right to free speech applies only when the government - not a private entity - is trying to restrict it" (Nilsson,2017). This holds very true if you go to a private school then you have to wear what they tell you and if its a religious school then you must practice what they want you to. Simply by calling themselves private they don't get public funding but they do usually get a lot of money from alumni and above all else they can make their own rules.


Retrieved from: http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2017/03/21/culture/politics/6-exceptions-to-freedom-of-speech.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gamifying Citizenship

The historical context of freedom of speech is an extremely interesting one. Why is it that the concept of free speech has been an undying one and has span the history of human communication. Breaking free speech in to three traditional rationals makes the concept easier to understand and definitely makes sense. These three modes of freedom of speech are philosophical, political and individual. They are easy to distinct from one another and function in completely different ways. From a philosophical level, free speech is a device of truth. That if people are able to speak freely and let their ideas compete, "in the long run the truth will prevail" according to Tedford and Herbeck. I find this interesting, because in my mind, this is the most important facet of free speech. I say this, because I find free speech essential for any kind of societal advancements. If people are not allowed to speak their mind and share their ideas, or discredit others ideas, how is a society supp...
1 comment
Read more

Wedding Cake Court Case (make-up post)

Wedding cake court case involving a gay couple, Charlie Craig & David Mullins, and a cake baker, Jack Phillips, who refused to bake a wedding cake for the couple. Just all around, it's a tricky debate with many different angles due to the baker arguing on the grounds of the First Amendment---its protections for free speech and the free exercise of religion. In the end, I think it comes down to whether we consider baking a cake qualifies an exercise of freedom of expression. I would say that it depends on the situation/context of baking. If Mr. Phillips wants his cake baking to be categorized artistic expression that falls under free expression, he can just go bake a cake on his own. Only then when he's on his own private time does it qualify, but as soon as he offered his skills as a public service via his business, I'd argue he gave that right to expression up. Also, what's stopping other artisans/professional services to deny services? By Mr. Phillip's logic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why is Freedom of Speech Important in a Democracy

While reading Chapter 15, I got the sense that the book was really coming full circle. In the first week of class, we established a meaning for freedom of speech and that shared meaning allowed us to navigate the classroom together as a classroom and a collective group. Creating a space that also involved mutual respect of opinons but encouraging difference in them as well. This brings me to an article I found about the importance of Freedom of Speech in a democracy. It is a basic human right to be able to express opinions and beliefs in our country. Although that is the main component, just like we established in class the first few weeks, in a government and democracy, Freedom of Speech also consists of the ability to listen to people with difference in opinions. In the article , editor Rachael  Jolly says, “ We are going through a time where people don’t want to be on a panel with people they disagree with. But we should feel comfortable being in a room with people who disagree ...
4 comments
Read more