Speeches to Move

Oh the inevitable act of taunting others!

In my opinion, these essays state the same thought, support the same opinion; that free speech should be allowed and it is a basic right of all Americans. The idea of trying to limit free speech makes anyone bristle. These people just spoke out against it.

I liked both essays, because they came towards the same idea, only using different approaches. The first essay tried to show all viewpoints; why the hoisting of the two flags could be seen as both an outcry and testament of free speech, as well as how it can be seen as offensive to others. This author gauged his audience and tried to make both sides of the view fair. He held to the view that free speech should be allowed, but that some people need to think of others before blatantly ‘speaking.’ The second essay was a critique of the first, going into detail about how the first essay could have been improved, but how it did a good job of sticking to its view.

In my opinions free speech should always be allowed. But, as stated, it is a hard topic to gage. Just how ‘free’ can speech be if one has to consider all possible reactions before speaking? And how ‘free’ can speech be if there are some topics one cannot broach? The First Amendment kind of contradicts itself here. Everyone has the right to free speech, but then everyone has to be treated equally. So if Person A wants to fly a confederate flag, but Person B finds that offensive and demeaning, Person A would have to take down that flag because it would go against Person B’s rights. How “free” is that?

Free speech is such a broad topic I believe it is limitless, so anything can fall under its protection. But the most publicized is with religion or sexual orientation. I have heard a lot about these topics, though have never experienced them myself. The closest I think I have come is watching the news about how “In God We Trust” may be taken off money, and how the Ten Commandments were going to be banned from display in Government buildings. Here, it never hit home so I never gave it attention.

With the issue of hate speech, my opinion rides to that of the essays. Just let people go and try to ignore it. Most times, people enact hate speech to get a response. There is no ‘fair’ way to draw a line here, no adequate way to say “this is hate speech and this is not” so people need to take it into their own hands. Also, hate speech is all relevant to the listener. I may find being called an Indian degrading and mean, while someone else may think it the regular term.

All in all, the idea of Free Speech is hard to define. No one can say exactly what it is, what it entails, or how to enact it. The terms are just to general for our increasingly specific culture. Someday maybe the terms will be set. But for now, everyone has to just accept them as general, try to live by the general rule of treating others with respect.