The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the U. S constitution. The purpose of The Bill of Rights is to protect individual liberties. This document was created September 25, 1789 and was then ratified on December 15, 1791. This took two years after being created to be put in the government’s records. This document added certain safeguards of democracy. This provided personal freedoms as well as personal rights. The author of The Bill of Rights is James Madison. I will be discussing the 1st amendment, the first of 10 amendments.
The first amendment is pretty much the freedom of speech and press. This amendment allows you to assemble and protest against the government without being prosecuted for it. This amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791 and it was written to guarantee is the right to express ourselves. Everyone has the right to seek, receive, and impart ideas without interference from other individuals or authorities. None of these things would be possible to do freely without the 1st amendment. Some significant court cases related to this amendment are Marsh v. Alabama and Cox v.
New Hampshire. The Jehovah’s Witness Marsh stood near a post office one day and began handing out religious books to people passing by. Even though she was warned that she needed to leave and not hand out the books she proceeded to do so anyways. The workers from the postal office told her that she needed a permit to hand out the literature to people and she refused to leave when told to. She was then arrested by the sheriff and was charged with the Alabama criminal codes trespassing equivalent. Marsh was convicted and she felt that her rights had been violated. In the Cox v.
New Hampshire case sixty-eight Jehovah’s Witnesses had had got together at their church and then split into smaller groups and began to march along the sidewalks. In 1941, all 68 Jehovah’s Witnesses were convicted in New Hampshire for violating a state statute. The statute prohibited parades and processions on public streets without a license. The individuals claimed to have had their 1st amendment rights violated, the right to freedom of worship as wella s freedom of assembly. Side A believes that we need to have the right to freedom of speech anywhere and whenever we please.
They believe they need to open the eyes of the world by protesting about events around the U. S. that are causing conflict. They believe we should say what we feel is necessary and not be censored whether they are in school or just walking down the street. They support the right to freedom of speech, print, and right to assemble and protest. They believe that you shouldn’t be told what you can and can’t say. Side B on the other hand believes that we should be free to say anything we want. They feel it causes too much conflict and they believe that being able to say anything you want can offend a lot of people.
The freedom of speech may offend people and cause conflict around the world or even on the media. They think we should be limited on what we can say in certain places. They still believe in the amendment but feel it should be more strict ands only free to an extent The 1st Amendment Side A: (against) People believe freedom of speech should be censored in many ways due to incidents that occur because of hate speech. Whether it’s through the internet or verbally conflicts occur and can end up in physical violence.
People believe hate speech should be censored and prohibited from the 1st amendment. They believe that not everything you say should be protected by the first amendment. Advocates are concerned about the increase of incidents, threats, and potential hate crimes. With the first amendment being as lenient as it is on what we can say a lot of hate speech is said. The constitution allows a person to say whatever he or she wants to a degree. Due to this many people use hate speech often to target someone or a particular race. Hate speech is unwanted by many people and they despise it.
With hate speech being protected by the first amendment, people are against the amendment being so free and want to know where the line is drawn to the extent of freedom of speech. They believe that these comments made by people brush up against those protections. Hate speech is often used in riots essentially to cause more violence. They believe limiting what can be said and censoring the right to full freedom of speech would minimize the violence being spread through protests as well. Many of these hate speeches either online or verbally can be considered as a threat.
Depending on how specific or immediate the threat is makes it more likely to be illegal. For example, it’s one thing if you say “kill all mexicans” versus “kill that mexican teacher that failed my sister. ” Being more descriptive makes more obvious to be a threat intentional to someone. With having the right to protest anything we feel like can also offend people in many ways. Protesting can lead to many conflicts. For example, if you hold up a sign that says women are less than men then that might lead to someone coming up to you and arguing with you which might lead to fist fighting.
People ask the question of where do the limits to freedom of speech be set? This question is asked because people believe that we have too much freedom to be able to use hate speech to target individuals. Protesting is a big part of freedom of speech. Many free speech activist are intrigued by the idea of protesting so they can spread the word of what their beliefs are. People may dislike protest and stop protesters to suppress criticism. The Klu Klux Klan is a group of white supremacists that protest but looks more like a rally often end with stabbings and people being sent to jail.
This protesting involves hate speech and is another reason why protesting is a big deal for people who are against hate speech. The KKK rally in Anaheim lead to 3 stabbings and 13 people arrested. Protesting can lead to very violent incidents and even deaths because people are trying to spread their beliefs. Protests get out of control for example, in the ferguson protest armed citizens protesting because of the shooting of Michael Brown. This protest led to citizens shooting at police and police having to return fire. Sixty people were arrested during the day and then nine at night that same day.
Protest contain hate speeches that are not accepted by certain people around the world. Hate crimes are also crimes that have freedom of speech as a big factor. Depending on your race people may say racial slurs or protest about your race. If you are black, mexican, white , or asian someone might have something against your race and because of the first amendment the racist things they say are protected. Many hate crimes are committed in Southern California and because of the free speech that turns into hate speech individuals feel threatened and people get killed, there are many hate crime cases due to race and hate speech.
In San Jose on November 21, 20133 college student committed a hate crime on their black roommate. They fastened a bicycle lock around his neck and locked him in his dorm room. Hate crimes are no joke and people are being affected by them everyday. Hate speeches, protest, and hate crimes are all connected to freedom of speech and are all reasons why people don’t fully support the first amendment. Hate speeches target people all around the world . Protesting starts up conflict and hate speech is sometimes shown through protest. The protesting results in many fights and arguments.
Unless there are peaceful protest it results in violence and terror. Many people go to presidential candidate rallies to rant about the wrong in everything and is another thing that results in people being arrested. The hate crimes are happening everyday and people are being targeted because of the way they look or the race. Hate speech is sometimes the reason why things occur. All of these things are reasons why people believe we have too much freedom with our speech and think we should be censored from expressing how we fully feel about things.