Freedom Of Speech

We are among the people lucky enough to be living in the United States of America. We are afforded many freedoms that most people living in other countries are not. Among these many freedoms is the freedom of speech. This freedom means we are lucky enough to be able to say exactly what we feel and think which is guaranteed according to the First Amendment. The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech; or the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Our founding fathers wanted us to be free to express ourselves, worship, and write without government regulation or censorship. This is a luxury we have as Americans that we take for granted and most people from other countries are not afforded.

What exactly is censorship? If you look the word up in the Webster’s New World Dictionary it states that censorship means to subject to a censor’s examination. A censor is an official with the power to examine literature, mail, movies, etc. and remove or prohibit anything considered obscene or objectionable. In many countries such as Iran, anything coming into the country is censored books, music, and movies all must be scrutinized for content by a censor. Have you ever wondered how you would feel if suddenly you were no longer allowed to listen to the music, read the books, and enjoy the movies that you loved because they were considered objectionable by a censor? Or going to prison or being possibly executed for saying something that was considered offensive by the Government? This is something we all take for granted and have never had to think about, on the other hand, there are many people who go through this on a daily basis, this is reality for them.

We as Americans are very lucky to have the freedoms of expression, speech, and religion that we do. With these freedoms also comes great responsibility. We must be careful that while using our freedom of speech that we do not infringe on another person’s freedoms. Just because we can say and do what we want does not mean we should. Exactly where should we draw the line? It must be drawn somewhere in order to protect people from being bullied by hate speech we must have some limitations. If you think about it if we had total freedom without limitations, stalking, harassment, terrorist threats, and child pornography would be perfectly legal. In essence, we have freedom of speech, and of the press to a certain extent. We still must obey the laws of our society. We cannot go around doing and saying everything we think and feel. We must be responsible and prudent with our actions and be considerate of others. If we know that something we say could be offensive to another person it might be a good idea not to say it. Just because we are free does not mean we should go around acting like an idiot.