The United States of America, known as the “land of the free, and the home of the brave,” while the latter part may be true in some instances, is the first part? Is the US really the land of the free? When I think of the word “free” in terms of people’s rights, I automatically think freedom of speech, freedom of religion, basically the freedom for one to safely live their life the way that they want to. Freedom of speech is often considered to be one of the most basic tenets of democracy. In America, we do live ‘freely’ but only to an extent. Under the First Amendment of the US Constitution, “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.” Freedom of speech under the First Amendment is not necessarily giving us the right to have full ‘freedom’ there are certain restrictions and regulations. For example- you can’t yell “fire” in crowded places, you can’t say false things about specific people whether on TV or newspapers because it is deemed slander, all of these regulations seem to make sense because, when you think about it, the government is instilling all of these to protect us, to help keep us safe. However, upon researching this I found an article in which I learned something else about the US First Amendment.
In the article it says that under the First Amendment, newspapers and magazines can say what they like about minorities and religions — even false, provocative or hateful things — without legal consequence. This just does not seem right to me, this seems exactly like slander and libel to me, however instead of targeting a specific person, they are targeting a specific group. “The First Amendment is not, of course, absolute. The Supreme Court has said that the government may ban fighting words or threats. Punishments may be enhanced for violent crimes prompted by racial hatred. And private institutions, including universities and employers, are not subject to the First Amendment, which restricts only government activities. But merely saying hateful things about minorities, even with the intent to cause their members distress and to generate contempt and loathing, is protected by the First Amendment.” This seems absolutely absurd to me. How is making it ok to give magazines and newspapers the ability to say false things that are harmful protected by the First Amendment? That does not make me feel safe in fact it kind of confuses me. While the First Amendment gives us the Freedom of Speech and with it comes regulations and rules to protect us, with an article like this that sheds light on a different side of the First Amendment, I feel somewhat not protected. I plan on researching more on this to find out other instances where this topic is raised and confronted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/us/12hate.html?pagewanted=2&sq=freedom%20of%20speech%20&st=cse&scp=5
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I do NOT understand at all how that kind of slander can be allowed in the press just because it is about minorities and religions. I would think, if anything, that minorities and religions would be protected in the First Amendment. Minorities are minorities for a reason so I feel that our country should be doing things to protect them because they are such small groups and most likely don't have much power. It is ridiculous that the freedom of speech is another basic human right that only applies to "certain" people.
ReplyDelete