Freedom of Speech: My Version and Theirs :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Freedom of Speech My Version and Theirs The First Amendment has led Americans to believe in a bless sense of freedom that does not exist freedom of speech. Freedom of speech in this country has never been absolute. You cant yell fire in a move 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 explosive charge 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 appropr iate to say will soon be dictating what they may think also, and by that, it is unlawful for the government to set 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 countercheck 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 comfort 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 subject 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 Lavine was expelled becaus e he wrote a poem. Though Lavine was never knobbed in much trouble in school, never showed a short-fused temper, never showed desire to inflict harm on animals or start fires, and never showed pursuit in weapons or bombs, Lavine was expelled because his poem described a murder (Tisdale).