Freedom

4 Pages 1064 Words

The First Amendment has lead Americans to believe in a hallowed
sense of freedom that does not exist -- freedom of speech. Freedom of
speech in this country has never been absolute. You can’’t yell fire in a
crowded theater, solicit bribes, make terrorist threats, slander another,
intentionally inflict emotional distress or be obscene in public (Dickerson).
What Americans do have a right to is their opinion and the means by which to
express it, no matter if the opinion is favorable or not. There are some
advocates who champion for restrictions on unfavorable speech, like violent
or racist remarks. And though the intentions behind such beliefs are made in
good faith, it is unrealistic to believe the mission of filtering out racist speech
could be completed without catching in the same net all kinds of other speech
that is considered ““OK”” (Lawrence III 514). I firmly believe that a
government that tells its citizens what is appropriate to say will soon be
dictating what they may think also, and by that, it is unlawful for the
government to regulate racist or violent speech. By doing so the government
would intrude on students’’ creativity and learning process, would set illusive
restraints on racist behavior, and undermine the Constitution at whole.
To begin, government censorship and the student learning process are
an incompatible combination. In any efforts the government might make to
protect students from bad ideas, the students are deprived of the right to make
up their own minds and form opinions. They are also deprived of creative
freedom if their work is reflected by the fear of being censored or punished
for their writing. How will students learn to identify and cope with bad ideas
or negative arguments if they are not exposed to them or allowed to expose
their opinion on them? (Hentoff 517). A case in Blaine, Wash., validates
such a point. 16-year-old James Lav...