Freedom of Speech
Posted by: crazykid in 1, tags: article 19, bill of rights, first amendment, freedom of speech, universal declaration of human rights
Freedom of speech in my point of view, should be a hundred percent guaranteed right to all human beings with a few limits. Article 19 from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Freedom of speech proves to be useful and helpful to the people because they can express themselves towards the government and try to change their discomfort. I strongly believe that without criticism from the people towards the government´s decisions, the country would collapse because the government´s primary job is to keep a country under control and issue laws that would benefit the people and the country. Without criticism from the people, the government would not have a chance to improve into an appearance that the public would want to see in a good way.
I feel that the colonists agreed to put down freedom of speech in the Bill of Rights because of their experiences with England. Before the resolution from the American Revolution, colonists had lots of restrictions with speech towards the king. I believe that the colonists didn´t really have lots of freedom of speech and were punished if they criticised the king. Therefore, I feel that the colonists wanted to establish a country where freedom of speech was protected by the Bill of Rights. I believe that a hate speech should be protected by the Bill of Rights because the people are expressing themselves towards other people. Although the hate message should not harm others physically, I feel that it should be allowed because of freedom of speech. For example, there was a Nazi march in Skokie, Illinois through a Jewish community. Many people disagree with the march and say that it is not protected by the First Amendment. However, the government officials did not stop the march. Personally, I think that hate speeches should be allowed but not too intense to cause physical harm on others. Also, to just express and show that they hate someone is enough however, killing and shouting at people should not be protected by the First Amendment.
Freedom of speech is a right that all humans have in the United States and is protected by the First Amendment. It also helps the government to realize their mistakes based on the reactions from the public and try to change their decisions. For example, in Costa Rica, there was an argument over “Trato de Libre Comercio” in Spanish which stands for TLC. In Costa Rica, people who wanted this government decision expressed their feelings by protesting and creating stickers, and posters saying “Yes” or “No”. This freedom of speech allowed the Costa Rican government to realize that the country was unhappy over this TLC. Therefore, to resolve this conflict between the country´s own citizens, the government decided to allow a vote over this issue. This case clearly shows how freedom of speech is beneficial to a country´s government. However, if freedom of speech was not allowed in Costa Rica and the citizens couldn´t express their feelings towards TLC, what would happen? I believe that it would result in riot and protest against the government even if freedom of speech was outlawed. Then, government armed forces would fight and things would be out of control. Freedom of speech is an important and critical part in the country and without it, caos may occur in a country.
I, as a blogger, should realize that the Edublogs is a private organization. Therefore, freedom of speech has more restrictions than in public places. I know that using inappropiate words or pictures in my blog is the key for the administrators of the Edublogs to have the right to take away my blog. However, pointing out your opinions and beliefs in the blogs should be okay since freedom of speech allows opinions to be free although the use of language should be appropiate. For example, the administrators of the Edublogs cannot take away someone´s blog just because they did not agree with the opinions of others. However, they can take it away if the blogger expressed himself with the use of inappropiate language and pictures. Basically, I will be cautious of the use of language and the way I express my thoughts because of the fact that the Edublogs is a private organizations and has more restrictions from the freedom of speech.
KuKluxKlan marching through town. Similar example with the Nazi march. They have the right to express their hates to others. Right protected by the First Amendment.
Information from wikipedia.org and plato.stanford.edu/entries/freedom-speech/
Entries (RSS)
April 7th, 2008 at 5:06 p04
I agree with you on the fact that freedom of speech is an important instrument of the citizens that allows them to criticize the government. In the world, there are many protests towards the government. I usually see news about protests going on most of the days. These protests are usually made to correct the wrong of the government. Without these, the government may start to abuse their own power since the people won’t be able to protest and go against the actions of the government. This may cause lots of problems and the country may collapse, as you said. I agree with you that the TLC was a bold representation of the advantages that this right holds. With this right, people were able to express their thoughts to persuade the government for either one of the sides. But why do you think that the Costa Rican government decided to create a vote?
April 7th, 2008 at 5:06 p04
Wow. I think you did an incredible job writing this. I do agree with you that people should be able to express themselves completely no matter what they are trying to say. Whether its to show how much they love someone, or a hate speech, it doesn’t matter, they are expressing their feelings on the topic and they have the right to do that. You had some great examples, but I didn’t really find what it meant to you. How does it affect you as a blogger? Once again, great work! Keep it up.
April 7th, 2008 at 5:06 p04
Thanks for responding papipupipu, I agree that TLC is a good example of how freedom of speech may become useful for resolution of problems. For your question, this is a part from my last paragraph, it states, “This freedom of speech allowed the Costa Rican government to realize that the country was unhappy over this TLC. Therefore, to resolve this conflict between the country´s own citizens, the government decided to allow a vote over this issue.” (Crazykid). As it clearly shows in the quote, I believe that the government decided to allow a vote to re-establish control over its citizens. Without freedom of speech, the people wouldn´t be able to express their feelings toward an issue therefore, TLC´s protest wouldn´t exist. Thanks for the response.
April 7th, 2008 at 5:06 p04
Thanks nat194 for responding to my post. Yes, I agree that hate speeches should be allowed because it is clearly done to show the outside world how they feel about things. Even though they are hatefully stating their hate to other people, it is done without violation of the First Amendment. They are expressing themselves without the use of threats or signs of violence. For your question, I, as a blogger, should realize and be cautious about the fact that Edublogs is a private organization. Therefore, I should be careful with what I say because freedom of speech´s limits are less in a private organization. If I express or say something that may be inappropiate, I feel that the Edublogs has the right to take my blog away. Since this organization is not public, I should be extra cautious about the things that I say. Thanks again for the response.