Censorship vs Freedom of Speech

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All forms of "expression" should be allowed, whether it's it is in the guise of speech, art, symbolism, or any other form of the freedom granted by the First Amendment. The freedom of speech is one granted by the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. It is in these rights that have let our country and our government becomes as strong and resilient as it is today. It is because of these rights, that we, as a country, have been able to evolve and expand our horizons to what they are today. These rights were the foundation and basis of our country and were also what separated our country from the all the other countries around the world. It was the basis of why the first colonists came to America in the first place. The freedom of speech and expression allowed our forefathers to gather in a small dingy room and put together one of the greatest pieces ever written; the Constitution.

If we were to limit which forms of "expression" should be allowed, we would not only be doing ourselves an injustice, we would also be setting ourselves up for an eventual demise and a disintegration of our values and beliefs. The freedom of speech and expression allows everyone a chance to be able to express and experiment. The very nature of our country rests upon our ability to be able to express ourselves in new and inventive ways. If we were to limit this ability, then production values of what our minds can conceive of are greatly reduced.

The Freedom of speech, under the Bill of Rights, the Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..." Under this amendment of the Constitution many battles have been fought in the Supreme Court over which forms of expression should be allowed. However, many argue that if we are to allow all forms of expression than the American public will be subjected to and assaulted by indecent material. But what constitutes indecency and decency? The Webster dictionary defines the word "Decent" as being characterized by conformity to recognized standards. So the next logical question is, "To whose limit do we set the decency level to?" What may be indecent to one person may be completely normal and allowable to another. The freedom of speech is a recognized standard that the majority of Americans believe in, so with this in mind, it is the people who try to ban our liberty of free speech that are being indecent.

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