...David Guy Professor Adams English 102 January 30, 2013 Free Speech Since the birth of this great nation, free speech has been among the key facets that hold it together. The founding fathers felt the need to restrict the government’s power by sharing that power with the people through the passing of the First Amendment. This amendment states that the government can pass no law limiting the freedom of speech or press (“Freedom of Speech”). After all, if it hadn’t been for religious persecution, the pilgrims would not have left England to found a new nation. As Americans, we can express our opposition of the government’s actions and goals without repercussion. One form of free speech, elections, allows us to cast a vote for the candidate we see best fit to have a roll in our government. The idea of free speech suggests an equal partnership between government and citizen rather than an oppressive relationship seen in Communist countries like China and Cuba. Countries like these have developed using Communist methods, and for the most part relinquishing free speech rights from their citizens. Free speech guarantees the absence of tyranny and provides the most beneficial relationship between government and citizen. In the early 1620s, the first pilgrims came to the New World seeking religious freedom, but they ironically did not implement that idea into their culture. They had been denied the right to free speech in England because they held different beliefs than the Church...
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...March 1, 2012 Freedom of speech is the idea that people can speak freely without being stopped, or censored. The United States First Amendment states that people have the right for absolute freedom of speech, which raises concern for when freedom of speech should be limited. Being able to speak freely is important. It allows us to speak our minds without being punished for our ideas. Freedom of speech in relevance to our time is very crucial. More and more people are beginning to voice their opinions and the construction of free speech is one of great importance. When thinking of free speech many issues and topics come into play. Today it seems that free speech in social networking has become increasingly prevalent. Over four hundred million people across the world are involved in some sort of social network, thus the importance of their voice when dealing with free speech. People want their voice to be heard, especially using things such as Twitter and Facebook. The issue of this however concerns the creators and if they should monitor what is being said on these sites. If social networking sites were to monitor our every action and every word, would we feel as if they abide by the freedom of speech law? What if one day you logged onto Facebook and there was a notification telling you that you were being monitored and could no longer say whatever you wanted whenever you wanted? Most of us would be outraged and angry that we could not express our opinions. No one wants...
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...Free Speech In recent times there have been protests at military funerals by a church group from Texas. This church has also been protesting the homosexual agenda that has lead a court ruling that they can get married. That marriage in all its forms is allowed whether it is between a man and a woman, or a same sex couple. This church leads these protests with signs that “destruction is imminent” or “USA = Fag Nation.” This has people in an uproar about the church and its use of their freedom of speech. They want this church to be banned from protesting and spreading their hate across the nation. But under the first amendment they are protected and allowed the freedom to do just what makes them unpopular. In 2010 the Westboro Baptist Church traveled to Maryland to picket the funeral of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq in the line of duty. The father of the deceased took them to court citing intentional infliction of emotional distress, intrusion upon seclusion, and civil conspiracy. The local court ruled in favor of the father assigning damages to be paid to him. This was upheld in another court, but the damages were reduced. The Westboro Church went to the 4th circuit court for another appeal and the ruling was overturned, the court stated that “Westboro’s statements were entitled to First Amendment protection because those statements were on matters of public concern, were not provably false, and were expressed solely through hyperbolic rhetoric...
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...Students should be limited to there free speech do to the safety of schools and students are minors so they say things without thinking and that could cause harm.Without the free speech students will be less distracted and more focused on work. Students shouldn't have the right to free speech because of the lack of intelligence among minors.There will be chaos in schools when others are trying to learn and kids will have the right to say and do whatever they want and the teachers won't have the authority to tell them different.This is why schools shouldn't have the right of free speech do to the lack of intelligence among minors.So if students have the athority to post what they want about schools aministration there could be harmful roomers...
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...Free Speech In the 20th and 21st century, Internet access has been made possible by technology and service plans. It has been brought by changes in innovation and drastic industrial revolution; this has made consumer use become popularized through the dial-up connections, which facilitated marketing of products and communication globally using the term broadband. The U.N fights for Internet rights by declaring them as a human right for the universe to be able to access basic information and communication services (Hayes 98). Use of Internet around the world has grown rapidly due to the market saturation and growth of industrialized countries. This has brought growth to countries such as Brazil, Caribbean and the Middle East. It has grown tremendously with a margin of over a billion users in the past ten years from 670 million to 1.9 billion users. In order to promote accessibility to the nation, the government has invested large amounts of dollars to breach the gap that is between people with access to the Internet and those without (Hayes 108). By providing access to the Internet, more people are able to take advantage of political, economic, social and carrier opportunities. Internet democracy should be promoted as every citizen has an equal right and say in decisions affecting their lives and development of law legislation. Oppressive regimes such as China have taken measures to squash political opposing of Internet accessibility to its citizens in order to protect their...
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...Free Speech and National Security Harlan D. Almon HSM 305 Instructor William Barker May 20, 2013 Free Speech and National Security We, as a nation, have prided ourselves as a country with many freedoms. Freedom of speech being probably the most important. It allows us to say or print what we are feeling about a subject and not have to worry about consequences. Although living in a society that allows free speech is great, it has its consequences as well when it comes to keeping our nation safe. During war time, there have been times that our freedom of speech has been curbed. One could say that freedom of speech could actually help professionals in the Homeland Security field. Because we are a country that allows freedom of speech, radical terrorist groups could be found and stopped before they could carry out their attack. This is possible because they can become a suspect through the web through chat rooms, Facebook or any social media that you can find on the internet this days. They can even start their own websites. This makes coming up with suspects easier for the DHS and other law enforcement individuals. They can spend more time trying to stop these individuals, instead of trying to find out who these individuals are. In the First Amendment, it states, “Congress shall make no law [. . .] Abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press [.]” (Howington, 2012) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 19 says “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion...
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...Schools may limit how students express themselves, because it keeps kids safe, prevents suicide, and helps prevent racial discrimination in schools. Schools limiting Free speech would enable the safety for our next generation. Although Free Speech is used to defend the right to voice your opinion, there are kids who abuse this right to cyberbully or spread untruthful rumors on others who can’t. Evidence to support this claim is a quote that states,”The cons of having the first amendment in place are that it can bring out voices of hate, untruthful rumors and cyberbullying.” This shows that our schools should monitor what happens in their halls and in the media to protect the students who can't. As I stated prior...
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...How Free Is ‘Free Speech’ When Society Disagrees? Free speech is a complicated issue, not just in the United States, but in many other countries as well. Unfortunately the freedom of speech is not as simple as saying anything at any time. While by law, everyone in the United States is entitled to the freedom to speak their minds, social expectations and mainstream culture restrict what people are able to say. However, as society has progressed many social changes have been made by people who have refused to be silenced by mainstream culture. Movements such as the Civil Rights Movement and the LBGTQ movement have been started by people who have fully used their rights to free speech. This means that people are free to speak their minds, however, mainstream society often restricts what they can say. The First Amendment states that: ‘Congress shall make no law… prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…’ (Amend 1) This segment of the constitution clearly states that by law every United States Citizen is entitled to free speech by the government. Meaning that the government cannot prosecute anyone for expressing their opinions. However, like every law exceptions are made to protect citizens. This encompasses all acts that are governed by other laws, such as slander and incitement to violence or rebellion. By having the government restricting only harmful or suppressive speech those wishing to express their opinions in non-threatening...
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...Free speech should be allowed on campus. Free speech is meant to be free and should not be limited to certain areas. Our first amendment rights tell us that we have free speech, along with some other freedoms, and that should mean free not limited to certain areas. The people on campus should have the right to say what they want and not fear getting in trouble for it. These people should have the same rights as if they were not on campus, but that does not seem like how it is. The schools are there to help the students and to teach them better and newer things in life. Colleges are not there to restrict your rights, they are there to help you learn and to help you get a career after you graduate. They do have free speech on most campuses, but they have designated it to certain zones. These zones are a good idea, but it is our first amendment right to have the freedom of speech and they are slowly taking that away from us on campus. The administrative forces have been trying to punish these people that are not following by their rules. These colleges are trying to limit the free speech of students in their schools. These people try to take a stand with peaceful protests, but they just end up getting...
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...students can express their opinions without fear. There have been many debates about the merits of allowing free speech on campus. Some students and faculties support allowing free speech on campus, while others believe that colleges should restrict free speech to make the college’s environment safer for every student. Restricting the freedom of expression is a bad idea because freedom of speech is one of the fundamental rights in the Constitution, free speech also prepares college students for society, and free speech also improves college students’ mental health. Freedom of speech is one of the crucial rights of American citizens. The Constitution states that American citizens are guaranteed...
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...Examining the Laws on Commercial Speech and Free Market Competition Our society has advanced to where it is today because of the interaction and exchange that fosters innovation and economic progress. We cannot naively rely on the pure goodness of society to insure that trade and business is fair—society depends on institutions for that, more specifically the institution of law. Good laws are intended for society to capture the gains from trade and interaction. This paper will evaluate whether the laws that relate to commercial speech and free market competition are designed with society in the forethought. Commercial speech is speech delivered by a business or someone speaking on behalf of a business to potential consumers. The first amendment in the United States Constitution protects the freedom of speech, but whether it also protects commercial speech has been subject to debate in the past. A case that tackles this issue is Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council. Consumers in Virginia challenged a statute that prohibited licensed pharmacists from disclosing price information on prescription drugs, deeming that to be unprofessional conduct. What makes this case unique is that the ones who brought forth the suit are not the subject of the statute, the pharmacists, but the consumers. The consumers believe that the poor, sick, and elderly are hit the hardest by this statute because “a disproportionate amount of their income tends to be spent...
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...PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT No. 07-4465 JUSTIN LAYSHOCK, a minor, by and through his parents; DONALD LAYSHOCK; CHERYL LAYSHOCK, individually and on behalf of their son v. HERMITAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT KAREN IONTA, District Superintendent; ERIC W. TROSCH, Principal Hickory High School, CHRIS GILL, Co-Principal Hickory High School, all in their official and individual capacity Hermitage School District, Appellant Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (Civ. No. 06-cv-00116) District Judge: Hon. Terrence F. McVerry Argued on December 10, 2008 Opinion Filed on February 4, 2010 1 Opinion Vacated and Petition for Rehearing En Banc Granted on April 9, 2010 Rehearing En Banc Ordered for June 3, 2010 Argued En Banc on June 3, 2010 Before: McKEE, Chief Judge, SLOVITER, SCIRICA, RENDELL, BARRY, AMBRO, FUENTES, SMITH, FISHER, CHAGARES, JORDAN, GREENAWAY, VANASKIE and ROTH, Circuit Judges. (Opinion filed: June 13, 2011) ANTHONY G. SANCHEZ, ESQ. (Argued) CHRISTINA LANE, ESQ. Andrews & Price 1500 Ardmore Boulevard, Suite 506 Pittsburgh, PA 15221 Attorneys for Appellant, Hermitage School District SEAN A. FIELDS, ESQ. Associate Counsel Pennsylvania School Boards Association 400 Bent Creek Boulevard P.O. Box 2042 Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 Attorney for Amicus Curiae, Pennsylvania School Board Association, filed in support of Appellant, Hermitage School District KIM M...
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...| Free Speech | And Society | | Ariel Kincaid | 11/1/2012 | Hum 176 Media and American Culture | The freedoms that the United States prides itself on came at a cost, and it continues to require a sacrifice from those members of the military and their families to protect the country. A controversy regarding the freedom of speech that has been covered recently by the media is the protests that the Westboro Baptist Church performs outside of military funerals. According to Fama (2012), “The church links the deaths of service members to America’s acceptance of gays and has a webpage full of press releases highlighting the picketing schedule of military service member funerals” (para. 11). This church group is considered a hate group by most people and highly controversial because they shout very cruel things to the families of soldiers that are being buried. This is a very touchy issue because the families of soldiers that gave their life in protecting their country are dealing with their grief as they bury their family member and are being bombarded with members of this church using their freedom of speech. The father of one of the soldiers whose funeral was protested sued the church’s Reverend and other members, but the ruling in his favor was later overturned by the state appeals court, and he was expected to pay the court costs for the church. Others helped him to raise the money necessary to pay these court costs. Then in 2011, “[the]...
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...|another format |presentation media to create a presentation about | | |current, controversial issues involving free speech. You | | |have a chance to become involved in a subject they have | | |strong opinions about and to develop a logical discussion| | |about the outcome of the controversy. The option to use | | |various presentation media gives you a change to develop | | |existing skills in presentations. | |All key elements of the assignment are covered in a substantive way. | | |Presentation covers a controversial issue in the media that challenged | | |issues of free speech. The presentation includes the following: | | |Identification of the issue and why it caused controversy | | ...
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...Benjamin Marchman English 122 Cathryn Lawson The Value of Online Privacy Since the September 11th terrorist attacks the United Sates and the world at large has officially entered into an age of counter-terrorism. While the more obvious aspects of this effort against violent extremism, which violate human and constitutional rights, such as drone strikes, waterboarding, and black prison sites, are specifically targeted toward a specific population, it is the subtler aspects of mass surveillance and corporate and governmental intrusion of privacy which present an overwhelming threat to human rights and quality of life. As has been made clear by recent revelations of the scope and depth of these intrusions, internet users specifically have many reasons to suspect that private information entered online is vulnerable to un-ethical intrusions by third parties. However, many groups and individuals have come together to bring resolution to the issue of personal privacy and national security. According to article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, or to attacks upon his honor and reputation (Lachmayer 749). However, the more subtle aspects of the new counter-terrorism age include a heightened amount of internet surveillance, video surveillance of public spaces, electronic eavesdropping, and data retention. Additionally governments have access to bank accounts,...
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