The Importance of the Freedom of Speech

Journalism students across the country are seeing the effects of the Hazelwood decision through administrative censorship of their school's newspaper. In 1988, the Unites States Supreme Court made the decision that, "High School principal's deletion from school-sponsored student newspaper of pages containing articles he reasonably considered objectionable held not violate students' First Amendment rights," (Hazelwood). Earlier, in 1987, the May 13th edition of Hazelwood East's newspaper was scheduled to contain articles student's experiences with pregnancy and divorce. The principal decided to withhold these articles from the final edition of the newspaper, on the basis that they were deemed obscene (Hazelwood). The students fought the censorship, saying that for something to be legally obscene, it must be "patently offensive, appeal to prurient interest, and, taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific values," (Martinson 3).

The first amendment is the cornerstone of our American society founded years ago by our forefathers. Without the first amendment many ideas, beliefs, and groups could not exist today. The first amendment guaranteed the people of the United States the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom of petition. Although the first amendment guarantees us, Americans the freedom of speech, we cannot use it to cause others harm. This amendment has helped shaped Americans into what we are today, because of our right to assemble, speak freely, and worship as we please.

The answer here is yes. If this nation truly stands for freedom, the American government cannot say that its citizens have the right to speak freely, write freely, or assemble freely, but then maintain an establ... ... middle of paper ... ...s both ways: Not only is the government kept out of religious matters, but religion is, likewise, kept out of government matters. There would be a true "separation of church and state." Religious freedom has always been an important part of American history. It is the concept, which originally divided us from England, and without it, this country might not exist today.

America was founded on popular sovereignty and individual freedoms. What do Americans do when the freedoms given to them from birth are restricted or taken away from them? They fight! Throughout time the government has attempted to take away our civil liberties because they viewed them to be for the greater good. One huge government failure was the attempted prohibition of alcohol.

He reflects the American desire for freedom now when he says, "I do not need my freedom when I'm dead. I cannot live on tomorrow's bread." He recognizes the need for freedom in its entirety without compromise or fear. I think Langston Hughes captures the essence of the American immigrants' quest for freedom in his poem, "Freedom's Plow." He accurately describes American's as arriving with nothing but dreams and building America with the hopes of finding greater freedom or freedom for the first time.

These fines prove nothing and also begin to show a very scary thought of cens... ... middle of paper ... ...an people should be watching then the nation should just roll over and give in? This country was based up certain inalienable rights and free speech is one of the most coveted. If not for free speech the women and African Americans in our society might still not have the ability to vote. To let the FCC take away this right would be a betrayal to the generations that came before. The government has no place in this matter and it should be overseen by a separate entity which has nothing to gain.

When censorship blocks out certain phrases from a book, or banning an entire book all together, it is going against the constitution, as both the author and reader have the right to say and speak their mind. In response to the heavy crackdown on censorship as of late, man... ... middle of paper ... ...erica as it goes against the Constitution, hurts artistic creativity, and works to make upcoming generations oblivious to real world scenarios. Censorship in the eyes of Americans has always received negative responses as they feel it truly does impede on their rights granted to them by the Constitution. Censorship in multimedia throughout human history has always been based on free human expression, but censorship alters its definition completely by letting the government pick and choose what is seen by the public and what is not. Last off, the next generation will become single minded and ignorant if vital information containing previous experiences are eradicated through censorship.

I fully agree with the District Court and the First Circuit Court on the ruling for the school district against Jason, a high school student that wrote a facebook post during school hours and on school campus that included vulgar and offensive words towards his fellow classmates in which he named in the post. When first looking at this case you can either apply the Supreme Court precedent set in the case of Bethel School District v. Fraser or Tinker vs. Des Moines. If we apply the Fraser test to Jason’s speech his speech would have not been protected. According to Fraser schools may prohibit speech that “materially and substantially interferes with the educational process is prohibited, including the use of obscene, profane language or gestures." Fraser majority at page 2.

The Importance of Freedom of Expression in America Would life be the same without freedom of expression? Expressions of hate, sometimes called hate speech, are highly prevalent in today's society; one group using them is the KKK, in particular Charles Brandenburg. Government leaders may also want to repress free speech for the motive of keeping the citizenry in the dark so they don't learn about corruption in the hierarchy of our country. The aforementioned corruption is what freedom of expression was created for; to give the populace some control over the government's actions. The Vietnam War was one of the largest events where freedom of expression was used.

Censorship in American High Schools Book banning has a long history and has made both positive and negative impact on readers. People have been trying to stop books from being banned, but there are also people that are trying to ban books to protect their children. Many books have been challenged and even banned because of the “inappropriate” content the books contain such as profanity. Books have started to get censored since the 1500’s and has threatened many cultures. The people who ban and censor books think that they are protecting the readers from the information, but it is secluding the readers from getting more ideas.