Freedom of Speech

2158 Words5 Pages

Freedom of Speech

What is "Freedom of Speech"? Finding out is my mission! Webster's defines "freedom" as: the condition of being free of restraints; exemption from the arbitrary exercise of authority in the performance of a specific action; civil liberty; exemption from unpleasant or onerous conditions; the capacity to exercise choice; free will; a right or the power to engage in certain actions without control or interference. Webster's also defines "speech" as: the faculty or act of speaking; the faculty or act of expressing or describing thoughts, feelings or perceptions by the articulation of words; vocal communication, conversation. Okay, from these definitions, placed in context of "freedom of speech", we kind of get: The condition of being free from restraints during the faculty or act of expressing or describing vocal thoughts; exemption from the arbitrary exercise of authority during vocal communication. You're probably thinking: "Yeah, man! That means I can say WHATEVER I want and nobody can do anything to me or say anything to me or punish me in any way! It did say 'exemption from authority', right?!" Alright, now before people read this and try to go off and use this as an excuse to cuss out their teachers and parents, let me set the record straight: this paper is about what "Freedom of Speech" is all about.

Appropriate use, respecting others freedom to not be harassed (this is a big one!), and what is "appropriate" use of "Freedom of Speech", who REALLY has freedom of speech, and how it is to be used are all topics of debate which swirl about the subject. The Constitution itself states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances". Now, it is true that here, the Constitution doesn't exactly set the rules and boundaries concerning this freedom. However, although not stated in black and white, I think we can assume the following as being basic restrictions, and violations of other's rights: Threatening or violent language, direct threats, mockery, insulting in a derogatory, habitual manner.

The Devil in the White City by Erick Larson
980 Words | 2 Pages
The pair of twins sat down in their homeroom class. One was gentle and charming, and the other was intelligent and had a great future in store. Being twins one would think they were very alike but secretly they were different. Sitting in homeroom no classmate would think that they were sitting next to a new definition of evil. In The Devil in the White City by Erick Larson, he decides to include different styles of ambition and appearance vs. reality to illustrate, that ambition can break one or make one and everything is not what it seems. Larson’s style is to add to irreverent stories together so that the two major protagonists highlight each other’s traits, one trait is their ambition. Both Holmes and Burnham are ambitious but in two different ways, which shows that ambition can make one or break one. How do they have different ambitions? Take their jobs as an example Burnham is an architect and Holmes is a doctor. When one has different jobs one strives for different things. Burnham in the novel strived for the Chicago’s World’s Exposition be more striking that the Exposition in Paris, as expressed by him saying, “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die” (Larson 1). By him saying “no little plans” he is trying to explain that the Exposition could have no limits. His vision is to create a “White City” and was going to accomplished that no matter what. His great ambition was to surpass Paris and at the end he did but Holmes had different plans. Burnham thought that if he made a grand and huge exposition Chicago would always be remembered as a White City...
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We are Free to Be You, Me, Stupid and Dead by Roger Rosenblatt
1178 Words | 3 Pages
Freedom of speech has been a controversial issue throughout the world. Our ability to say whatever we want is very important to us as individuals and communities. Although freedom of speech and expression may sometimes be offensive to other people, it is still everyone’s right to express his/her opinion under the American constitution which states that “congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press”. Although this amendment gave people the right express thier opinions, it still rests in one’s own hands as how far they will go to exercise that right of freedom of speech.
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Analyzing Michelle Neely Martinez’s article “Rewards Given the Right Way”
926 Words | 2 Pages
The innovative approach to employee reviews provided by Martinez creates a positive way to evaluate employees’ strengths and weaknesses. The process promotes open conversations, enhanced by the Socratic Method, to generate enthusiasm in both the manager and the subordinate. The fear of negative reactions becomes almost nonexistent because of the collaborative dialogue. Martinez successfully created a performance evaluation system that takes the dread out of employee evaluations.
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Symbolic Speech Should Be Protected
2507 Words | 6 Pages
1. The measure of a great society is the ability of its citizens to tolerate the viewpoints of those with whom they disagree. As Voltaire once said, “I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” (Columbia). This right to express one's opinion can be characterized as “freedom of speech.” The concept of “freedom of speech” is a Constitutional right in the United States, guaranteed under the First Amendment to the Constitution:
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Freedom of Speech
1581 Words | 4 Pages
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.
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The Freedom Of Speech: The Limitation Of Free Speech
1052 Words | 3 Pages
On December 15, 1791, the first amendment- along with the rest of the Bill of Rights- was passed by congress. Although the amendment allows verbal freedom to the citizens of America, many argue that it also comes with great risks.The possibility of both mental and physical harm to citizens through the practice of free speech should be taken into consideration. Limiting free speech has potentially saved lives by monitoring what a person can or can not say that could cause distress to the public (e.g.- yelling “bomb” on an airplane). Others argue that the limitation of free speech will hinder our progress as a nation, and could potentially lead to our downfall through governmental corruption. In a society where the freedom of speech is a reality, one must question the risks and limits of that right.
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Free Speech
2199 Words | 5 Pages
When you think about America, the first thing that comes to mind is liberty. Liberty of the government and its citizens is one thing that colonists exceedingly desired during the British oppressive regime. When United States gained independence, the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution of the Unites States, a document that has been governing our country for more than 200 years. The constitution was drafted accordingly to ensure that people’s opinions were heard. What our Founding Fathers could not foresee is that in our 21st century, The Freedom of Speech not only gives a person such a massive power, but also an opinion even if it is immoral and goes against citizens’ values.
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Freedom of Speech and Expression
1013 Words | 3 Pages
On December 15, 1791, Congress adopted the freedom of speech as a constitutional right under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as a law to protect all American citizens. The law clearly states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (www.law.cornell.edu). Although this law is in effect, there are exceptions to policy and many other categories that are excluded from the freedom, in which the government may enact within a reasonable amount of time, place or manner restrictions on speech. According to the famous speech written by Raphael Cohen-Almagor, it states that freedom of speech is a guiding rule, one of the foundations of democracy, but at the same time, freedom does not imply anarchy, and the right to exercise free expression does not include the right to do unjustified harm to others.
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Change at Glenrothes Colliery: An Evaluation of John Kotter's 8-Step Model
1692 Words | 4 Pages
Glenrothes Colliery management decided to introduce a new system for appraising worker’s performance in their effort to improve their operation (McLean, P. and P. Dawson, 2010). The decision to introduce the system used was a result of a search and evaluation effort looking at the general business environment (2010a). Including not only collieries and mining industries, but also other...
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Kaufman's Organizational Elements Model
1050 Words | 3 Pages
Kaufman, Roger and Keller, John M. "Levels of Evaluation: Beyond Kirkpatrick." Human Resources Development Quarterly, v5 n4 p371-380, Win 1994.
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Compare and Contrast Comedy and Tragedy
902 Words | 2 Pages
In a comparison of comedy and tragedy, I will begin by looking at narrative. The narration in a comedy often involves union and togetherness as we see in the marriage scene at the end of Midsummer's Night Dream. William Hazlitt tells us that one can also expect incongruities, misunderstandings, and contradictions. I am reminded of the play The Importance of Being Ernest and the humor by way of mistaken identity. Sigmund Freud tells us to expect excess and exaggeration in comedy. Chekhov's Marriage Proposal displays this excess both in language and in movements. Charles Darwin insists that in a comedy "circumstances must not be of a momentous nature;" whereas, Northop Frye identifies comedy as having a happy ending and using repetition that goes nowhere.
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Freedom Of Speech Should be Limited
1338 Words | 3 Pages
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...
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Compare and Contrast Tragedy and Comedy
1019 Words | 3 Pages
A tragedy is defined as beginning with a problem that affects everyone, i.e. the whole town or all the characters involved, the tragic hero must solve this problem and this results in his banishment or death [run-on sentence]. A comedy is defined as also beginning with a problem, but one of less significant importance. The characters try to solve the problem and the story ends with all the characters uniting in either a marriage of a party. Although these two genres are seen as being complete opposites of each other, through further analysis one can gather that though they are different certain similarities can also be seen.
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Vaccine Argumentative Essay
1488 Words | 3 Pages
A prevailing argument that pro-voluntaristic individuals frequently make is that vaccines have the potential to be harmful to individuals; a primary motive behind this pertains to an alleged correlation that exists between thimerosal, a component of vaccines, and countless disorders including autism (Benjamin, 2003). According to Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center, “When you take a look at the ever-increasing numbers of doses of vaccines babies have gotten over the past two decades and you see this corresponding rise in chronic disease and disability in our children, it is out of control” (Benjamin, 2003). Many speculated that the mercury contained within the thimerosal was to blame for this. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), thimerosal contains a form of mercury known as ethylmercury that quickly evacuates the body and cannot cause adverse reactions unless exposure involves abnormally large doses (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Nevertheless, a fair handful of United States citizens are medically unable to receive vaccines; for example, out of a billion people, nearly 250,000 possible vaccine reactions were documented
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The Importance Of Performance Evaluation
896 Words | 2 Pages
There are several reasons organizations initiate performance evaluations, however the standard purpose for performance evaluations is to discuss performance expectations; not only from the employers perspective but to engage in a formal collaboration where the employee and the manager are both able to provide feedback in a formal discourse. There are many different processes an organization should follow when developing its performance evaluation tool; in addition essential characteristics that must accompany an effective performance appraisal process. I will discuss in detail the intent of a performance evaluation, the process an organization should follow in using its performance evaluation tool, along with the characteristics of an effective
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Freedom of Speech

The Devil in the White City by Erick Larson

We are Free to Be You, Me, Stupid and Dead by Roger Rosenblatt

Analyzing Michelle Neely Martinez’s article “Rewards Given the Right Way”

Symbolic Speech Should Be Protected