Freedom of Speech Ch. 1

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Freedom of Speech - Ch. 1

• G-Spot Tornado
• Mike Almazan
• Nicole Farlow
• Trevor Zimmermann
• Danuta Wierzbicka
• Adam Lewis (Moe)

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Chapter One - What It Deals With

• Free speech should be restricted
• Free speech should not be restricted
• Hate speech should be restricted
• Hate speech should not be restricted
• Flag burning as Political speech should be
  restricted
• Flag burning as Political speech should not be
  restricted
• The Government should legislate against
  pornography
• Pornography should not be restricted

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Freedom of Speech

• 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 of the people
  peaceable to assemble, and to petition the
  government for a redress of grievances.
• First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

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Example

• In 1992, a high school student in Norfolk,
  Virginia, suspended for wearing a T-shirt
  proclaiming Drugs Suck!, sued the school
  district for violating her First Amendment
  rights. (She lost.)

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• The First Amendment does not provide protection
  for fighting words- words that are likely to
  provoke a violent reaction from the person or
  persons to whom they are directed.

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Flag Amendment - Good Idea, or Bad Idea?

• It is a matter of long-standing tradition for
  torn or soiled American flags to be burned, an
  act reflecting solemn respect.

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Speech That Should Be Restricted

• A poll of 1,026 Americans taken between July 17
  and August 1, 1997, found that 93 would vote for
  the First Amendment if it were being ratified in
  1997.
• 76 Would restrict hate speech
• 53 Offensive art
• 49 Flag burning
• 47 Offensive music
• 35 Newspapers

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Works Cited

• Chapter 6 - Freedom of Speech
• Heres a Thought Flag Amendment Is a Bad
  Idea by Benjamin Zycher
• both in Making The Case An Argument Reader, by
  Laurence Behrens, New Jersey Prentice Hall,
  2001.
• Speech That Should Be Restricted in Free Speech
  Should Be Restricted, by Mark Y. Herring, Green
  Haven Press, 1999.