"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."
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution. One of the rights our Founders, after seeing the tyranny of Great Britian and France, wanted us to have at all costs. No questions asked.
I am going to make this VERY clear before jumping into this analysis due to the sensitivity attatched to the issue. I am a Democrat. I love free speech, protests, hippies, Obama, and small business. With that being said, if the Founders were to be here with us today, in 2012, I think they would pull their hair out strand by strand.
We are a country founded on the basis of: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not hatred or intolerance. I am going to sit slavery and women's issues aside for this piece only because they are historical in content and timing, not necessarily moral. As an American, you can thank the United States Supreme Court for your freedoms, especially those of speech. Without the high court's opinions, the Constitution would be politically interpreted, and we do not want the legislature doing this. Normally I am pro Supreme Court, however on the issue of Freedom of Speech, I fall off the bandwagon. Time and time again the Court has regulated what we can, or cannot do. Texas v Johnson said it was constitutionally valid to burn an American flag, in public, due to the fact that it constitutes as symbolic speech. Then they said that you can't burn your draft card in time of war, or display a banner reading "Bong Hits for Jesus" when on a public school's clock. You can publish hate speech and harmful opinions, as long as you get both sides. However when you bring libel and slander into the mix your case in court will not stand. You can see that even the Court struggles with interpretation of what we call "free speech". The problem does not fall into the sphere of our law makers, or law interpreters, the problem lies in ourselves.
This is where my analysis begins.
Forget the law. Forget legality. Forget the Constitution. Forget our Framers.
Allow your mind to be a clean slate for a while. This is extremely difficult for me since I study this and normally I'm doing the opposite, which is searching for pieces of law and legislation to back my argument up. But for this argument, I don't think I need it.
Imagine you're gay. You're walking down the street. Someone turns to you and shouts out FAG. You have two options. Fight, which will eventually get you in trouble, or walk away. John Stuart Mill, and our Supreme Court (two people/institutions I often look to) would argue that no "harm to others" was done, and the person who called you a fag was just exercising their freedom of speech.
Imagine you're a soldier. You just got home from 2 years in Afghanistan. You walk off the plane and the first thing you see is a man burning an American flag and calling you a socialist and a war monger. All your time saluting the flag is spent watching it burn. Oh well, freedom of speech, no harm to others.
Imagine you're black. You are vacation in Texas, and while walking down the street someone calls you a racist coon who should be picking cotton. OH WELL. FREEDOM OF SPEECH. no harm done.
Now a lot of people who take the opposite side of the argument would say that the person receiving the verbal abuse chose to accept and process it, and the harm that was emotionally done is on them. However, this person did not choose to be the victim of hate speech, or did not choose to be offended by symbolic speech. It was inflicted upon them. Although no physical harm was done, irreversible emotional damage will persist in this individual for an indefinite amount of time. This is a trend currently happening in America today. Kids and adults alike are killing themselves and others all because of WORDS. Letters put together in patterns that are used to create phrases have now become weapons. If it's one thing our Founder's wanted, it was peace and unity. Not fragmentation and hate. The First Amendment was intentionally created to protect United States citizens from governmental oppression. It was a time of Monarchs and Dictators who would do everything in their power to silence their people. Now the first amendment is being abused to incite rage and hate in others.
Let's get real. Everyone knows that you have the right to express your opinion on issues. Abortion, gay marriage, war, economic choices, and the status of our government....RESPECTFULLY. Instead of calling someone a "child hating baby killer", or a "fag who is damned in the eyes of God", why not make an educated, mediated argument for your side? We use opinions as as excuse to spill our hatred onto others.
The bottome line: We are Americans. We value many freedoms, including speech. Everyone knows this. But we often use our rights in the wrong ways, because we know they will always be there. We have the oldest constitution and government in the WORLD, yet we are one of the youngest nations. At some point, revision is necessary. Not necessarily ink and paper revisions, but personal revisions and reflections. That's where the problem with Freedom of Speech lies. Sure, we are all Americans, and we all deserve this right, hell we've spent years fighting for it. But there is a line between freedom of speech and exercise of hate. Of course you can burn a flag, or call someone a fag, or even lead a pro-Nazi march. The ultimate question is, why you would want to. Why would you want to deeply offend someone just because they behave or idealize differently than yourself? That's not how you win. You win by making an educated, formal opinion about the issues you care about. You research, you participate peacefully and for the BETTERING of a people. You believe in what you fight for. You are not supposed to tear down the other side emotionally, and make them question their being. We are adults. We are a sophisticated Nation, yet we are acting like a bunch of elementary aged school girls. Everyone uses their "freedom of speech" as a crutch to breed hate. Please exercise wisely. Words are not just words anymore, and they do hurt.
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