The First Amendment isn’t discussed nearly as much as it could be.
Some people might not even be able to fully define or understand it.
Freedom of speech is exactly that: freedom of speech. This country better damn well protect my freedom of speech. The day I’m legally silenced will be a day to remember in history. I’m free, shouldn't everyone else be free too?
In America you’re legally protected to express your ideas no matter how twisted or wrong they are to someone else. Regardless of the views expressed, or the individual who chooses to hold them, they are legally protected. Instead of failed attempts to silence these views, why not express yourself in bigger, bolder font than the ignorant border-line crazy extremist guy next door?
Look at the protesters who’ve been making appearances at the funerals of American soldiers. They believe the reason our soldiers are dying is because their God is punishing this country. This indeed has become a controversial issue everywhere, and the public isn’t happy. Those who feel the soldiers are to be honored, and that the protestors are (clearly) twisted religious extremists skipped the protestors and went straight to aiming complaints and outrage at the Supreme Court. Protecting freedom of speech isn’t right or wrong: it is staying pure in upholding the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. You live in this country, go read it.
The lights are on, but nobody is home. If you think about it, these soldiers died in the name of our political system. The outrage from the Supreme Court ruling is based on a twisted interpretation of the core foundation of the American political system. Our system is rooted in the Declaration of Independence. Remember the Bill of Rights? Go check out the nearest dictatorship country and then get back to me.
Journalism is where some roots of freedom of speech lie. What this country reads in the papers and such probably affects the mentalities, hopes and fears of our citizens. Journalists everywhere have the responsibility to actively relay information: it should be fact, but based on publication, can and is expressed from a certain political or social perspective. Journalism shouldn’t be discredited or misrepresented because some publications and their writers stand up for the rights of those with less controversial issues rather than the rights of everyone. Writers should always keep in mind what the First Amendment allows them to do every single day. With that freedom does come responsibility to your readers; to your country.
Freedom of speech is not just a protective measure. It is an opportunity. Every second of the day someone can write, say, or do something that could change the world. Freedom of speech is saying what you need to say when and how you need to. No one has to listen. But I believe that they WILL if you can find a way to be louder than the rest. Silent America needs to rise up. Abrasive America needs to get educated. And of course Outspoken America needs to have its revolutionaries writing in bold on billboards everywhere. Besides, it is the First Amendment for a reason.
If you choose not to speak, don’t expect others to speak for you. Don’t give up your right.
Get up and say something with some substance, people.
-J
