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Free speech and the abuses that surround it are like wild horses that need to be broken and tamed. The laws that were created to protect free speech were made long ago and in a much different spirit. The days of the American Revolution were filled with political oppression, enforced by British rule. Speaking out against such obvious tyranny meant being crushed under the boot of colonial governors. Free speech was designed to combat these infractions against proper civil liberties. The first amendment provided for free speech to be constructive.
In todays society, free speech is a shield for protecting hatred and conspiracies. The common reply of many of todays hate mongers is Its a free country! There must be a line that cannot be crossed. When there are no safeguards against such things, we encourage hate to fester within our society and from outside as well. The results, costs, and consequences of the unchecked reign of free speech are terribly high.
Evidence of this comes from the terrible tragedies that took place in New York City and Washington D. C. on September 11 th, 2001. Terrorist forces, both domestic and foreign, flood our country with their messages of hate. Klan Klux Klan to Al Qaeda. From Americas heartland to the lands of the Middle East changes must be made.
Terrorists, again domestic and foreign, use our internet and public arenas to communicate and proliferate. On any given day there are hundreds of questionable chat rooms at such a website as web or using a simple program called mIRC. Many of these rooms are created with the expressed purpose of plotting against the United States and its people. Our public facilities must be available for any Klan or other group rally that agrees to be peaceful.
More often than not, these meetings are not peaceful, as in Columbus and Cleveland this past summer. The fruits of these groups labor come into season when people die. They do not seek political reform, economic changes, or policy revision; these groups seek blood in the streets and terror in our hearts. The Constitution was created as a flexible document, one that grew with the times. Now, in its rigid and sharp edged ways, it is harming more Americans than it is preserving. The Constitution shouldnt be tossed out the window, its just time that it came up to speed with the lives and times of 21 st century Americans.
I, personally, have used my free speech rights and used them well. I recently participate in a movement against the censorship rules and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC had censored and fined an disk jockey in Cleveland for his supposedly foul and inappropriate conduct and content. The Fcc's pressure eventually led to him losing his job. Groups were organized and on his behalf we started petitions and wrote letters. So people went as far as to camp out in front of the local FCC offices.
His supporters and I were exercising our freedom of speech in the proper way. We were peaceful and constructive. Not one time in this exercise of free speech was there any actions at all that limited the lives and liberties of those not involved. That is how our civil liberties should work. While it is evident that all Americans are entitled to an opinion, whether it is right or wrong, the time has come when the 1 st Amendment must come under fire. The blanket protection granted by Constitutional policies needs to come under the microscope.
These blanketing rights should never interfere with the rights and abilities of other Americans, but it has. When free speech coddles and nurses these feelings of hate and anger, it explodes into real things such as actions and violence. The terrorists that committed the savage acts of September 11 th, 2001 must be the last ones that are allowed to plot under the same 1 st Amendment rights as all good citizens, for they are not worthy. Many might feel that I am advocating something less than democracy in the United States. Democracy is what makes the United States the country that we all love and cherish. What I do advocate is a renewal of our rights and duties under the Constitution.
The citizenry cannot allow the abusers to take advantage of our freedoms any longer. I, for one, am willing to give up some or limit some of my own rights to ensure that we all have a safe place to live and work. The Constitution essentially does this right now. With no Constitutional laws, I could shoot some one dead in the street.
It would be my right to do such. The Constitution and its laws in essence state that because I am willing to have my right to have killed that person limited, I am entitled to other liberties. To live in a safe and prosperous country we must give some things so that we can have others. There is no perfect reality where people are free to totally act as they please. Constitutional rights must be re-evaluated.
For our country to survive, we must adapt. Even if this means the limiting of individual freedoms for the well being of the United States. America shall live on, but unfortunately never in the same way.
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Research essay sample on The Constitutional Abuse Of Free Speech
