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How important is freedom of speech
How important is freedom of speech
How important is freedom of speech
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Introduction and Thesis
Among all the countries of the world, the United States of America have earned the image of a democratic society. They have always claimed themselves to be the country of free people with numerous rights and liberties. Among those liberties and constitutional rights, freedom of speech takes a dominant place as far as it is an essential characteristic of the society and its most vivid feature. Freedom of speech plays a crucial role in the life of the society, and it also has implications for federalism, civil rights, and civil liberties. While the freedom of speech is recognized as the fundamental and unalienable right of any person due to its support of the democracy and acting on behalf of the society and separate individuals,
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• In relation to the depiction of the federal government in the media, working to provide the audience with the exciting materials might result in the formulation of a biased public opinion, which might contribute to a mistrust and inappropriate perception of the government by the community.
• “Press shall criticize the authorities when state officials and politicians make mistakes; news and entertaining programs shall be defined according to taste of audience” (Graber, 1993, p. 22).
• This quote offers an idea that the freedom of speech is a high value for the mass media as far as it can help to point out the mistakes of politicians or the government, whereas the orientation of the media on the audience might have negative implications for the depiction of truth in them.
• The provided evidence shows that the freedom of speech is one of the mistakes crucial characteristics of the federalist system as far as it enables the society to evaluate the activities of the government and to show their weaknesses as well as to provide support for them in other cases.
Main Point
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• At Berkeley in 1964, “There was a synergy between the causes of free speech, civil rights, and due process that, as they all came together, gave them an exponential power” (Cohen & Zelnik, 2002, p. 7).
• The quote reveals the importance of the freedom of speech idea that was one of the central reasons for the involvement of Berkeley students in the process of fighting for civil rights and ultimately contributed to the successful ending of the campaign.
• The understanding of the driving forces of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the application of freedom of speech to it, helps to realize how important and how powerful the concept of free speech is in the society.
Main Point 3
• Freedom of speech serves as the fundamental liberty which is also an indication of democracy and serves as a tool for controlling the realization of other civil
According to Roger Rosenblatt “since free is the way people's minds were made to be”, freedom of speech is important to speak one's mind in a way that expresses his/her opinion even if this opinion does not seem to convince others. In my opinion, without freedom of speech, the United States would have failed to be such a powerful country as it is today.
In 1965, radical human rights activist Malcolm X gave a speech regarding tactics freedom fighters should consider using during the violent area of the civil rights era. His speech declared that people of color should be respected as human beings, and if they were not, he and other activist intended to bring this right into existence “by any means necessary.” This quote insinuated that Malcolm X and his followers were ready and willing to use any tactics available to gain human rights, including violence. Since Malcolm X’s 1965 speech, this speech has been recreated and recited in churches, protests, and rallies.
the civil rights movement dramatically changed the face of the nation and gave a sense of dignity and power to black Americans. Most of all, the millions of Americans who participated in the movement brought about changes that reinforced our nation’s basic constitutional rights for all Americans- black and white, men and women, young and old.
For more than 200 years, the First Amendment has been at the heart of United States’ history and most successful research in liberty. The history of America’s nation is the story of the constant struggle to extend the promise of freedom more fully and fairly to each and every citizen. By looking freedom of speech, democratic government is not that important to have it without these rights. People prefer democracy to avoid tyranny or suppression of others. The citizens of the United States need to protect these rights because they are fundamental to the human being to be free, have liberty. What Founding Fathers did is not enough, however, United States’ citizens has to work together for a better place, a better country, a better government.
As outlined in the film, “Berkeley in the 60’s,” the direction of the free speech movement was not concretely defined right from the outset.
Imagine a time when one could be fined, imprisoned and even killed for simply speaking one’s mind. Speech is the basic vehicle for communication of beliefs, thoughts and ideas. Without the right to speak one’s mind freely one would be forced to agree with everything society stated. With freedom of speech one’s own ideas can be expressed freely and the follower’s belief will be stronger. The words sound so simple, but without them the world would be a very different place.
Harrison, Robert Pogue. “The Civil Rights Movement” . Chicago: U of Chicago, 2014. 98-111. Print.
According to “Freedom of Speech” by Gerald Leinwand, Abraham Lincoln once asked, “Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its people, or too weak to maintain its own existence (7)?” This question is particularly appropriate when considering what is perhaps the most sacred of all our Constitutionally guaranteed rights, freedom of expression. Lincoln knew well the potential dangers of expression, having steered the Union through the bitterly divisive Civil War, but he held the Constitution dear enough to protect its promises whenever possible (8).
Freedom of speech is the gift to speak one’s mind, challenge political figures, stand up for what you believe in, and most importantly never have a fear that the words you say can cost you your life.2 In the 1800s-1900s many inventions such as the television, radios, typewriter, and telephone were invented that have allowed ones speech to reach all of the United States within a turn of a switch.3 During the Gilded Age whites were understood to be at the top and all other ethnicities were below them as well in the 1941, however during the 1950-1980 things were starting to change but not dramatically. White men in all three periods were allowed to speak their minds and say whatever they wanted because in their minds they understood that they were at the top.4 For example, white men joined forces and created the unions to go against the overbearing power of corporations.5 These corporations controlled oil, steel, and were treating the workers unfairly.... ... middle of paper ...
398).It is also stated that news divisions reduced their costs, and raised the entertainment factor of the broadcasts put on air. (p. 400). Secondly, the media determines its sources for stories by putting the best journalists on the case and assign them to areas where news worthy stories just emanates. (p.400). Third, the media decides how to present the news by taking the most controversial or relevant events and compressing them into 30 second sound-bites. (p.402). finally, the authors also explain how the media affects the general public. The authors’ state “The effect of one news story on public opinion may be trivial but the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be important. This shows a direct correlation between public opinions and what the media may find “relevant”. (Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, 2015, p.
Recently you have received a letter from Martin Luther King Jr. entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In Dr. King’s letter he illustrates the motives and reasoning for the extremist action of the Civil Rights movement throughout the 1960’s. In the course of Dr. King’s letter to you, he uses rhetorical questioning and logistical reasoning, imagery and metaphors, and many other rhetorical devices to broaden your perspectives. I am writing this analysis in hopes you might reconsider the current stance you have taken up regarding the issues at hand.
The Free Speech Movement (FSM) at the University of California at Berkeley started during the fall of 1964. (Freeman, Jo) But there were many events leading up to this point. The Free Speech Movement began to obtain momentum in the fall of 1963 and the spring of 1964 the Bay Area was rocked with the civil rights demonstrations against employers who practiced racial discrimination. (Freeman, Jo) These students believed that this was wrong and felt the need to do something about it. So many Berkeley students were recruited for these protests from Bancroft and Telegraph which where the companies that were racial discriminating against races and groups of people.(Freeman, Jo) With these protest there were many arrest made of Berkeley students there were about 500 arrests made over several months. (Freeman, Jo)
First, the role of the media is to represent the public and intervene between the public and the government. The media is a mirror, which re...
The Civil Rights Movement began in 1954 with the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, this ruling struck down the doctrine of “Separate but Equal”. The Brown v. Board of Education case was a start of many that began to transform American Democracy. African-Americans soon realized that they had to do something if they wanted to gain their rights back. They saw that they all had the responsibility to fight back against the government’s decision of de jure segregation. Many saw that they had to use the path of civil disobedience as portrayed through Martin Luther King Jr., but the rise of Black Nationalism made many people around the country forget that they had a responsibility as a people. Militant groups and leaders such as the Black Panther Party and Malcolm X started riots and “rebellions” that not only showed that they were very serious about gett...
Freedom of speech cannot be considered an absolute freedom, and even society and the legal system recognize the boundaries or general situations where the speech should not be protected. Along with rights comes civil responsib...