Hajira Khokhar

FREEDOM OF SPEECH
MR.Spoth
P.I.G pr 4th

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution states 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.
This means It protects the right of freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is right to
communicate ones opinions and ideas without fear of government retaliation or
censorship. Repressing speech has costs, but so does allowing it. I think freedom of
speech should be limited or restricted, allowing people full power of freedom of speech
can turn it into a hate speech, a lot of violence, and people can misuse their freedom.

The U.S. Constitution established Americas natural government and

fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. Before the U.S.
Constitution was created, the Articles of Confederation existed from 1781-1789. The
Articles of Confederation gave more power to states governments than the federal
government. People had fear of a powerful national governments similar to that in Great
Britain, there the more power was given to the states, not the central government. It
wasn't easy to take away your rights. One person or group of people couldnt take away
your rights. The Articles of Confederation had many flaws and many problems. Some
problems that Articles of Confederation had there was no executive branch to unify the
country, a lot of debt, each state had one vote regarding. Creation of the Constitution
began when Articles of Confederation failed. The primary goal to the constitution was to
create a new government giving more power to the Federal Government. The
Constitutional Convention was held on may 25,1787. Fifty-five representatives from all
the states except Rhode Island were sent to Philadelphia to discuss the changing of the

Articles. The U.S. Constitution was written in Philadelphia. The Original intent was to
revise the Articles. During the making of the Constitution, there were two different
groups Federalists and Antifederalists. Federalists wanted a strong national government
that had more than the states. Anti-federalists wanted the states to be more powerful
than the national government. U.S Constitution was signed on september 17,1787, by
delegates to the constitutional convention in Philadelphia. The Constitution is divided
into different parts. It's divided into articles, sections and clauses. The Constitution was
finished September 17, 1787. There were 55 total delegates, 42 were present until the
final day and only 32 signed the Constitution. The First Amendment is in the
constitution and is also the first section of Bill Of Rights. It is the most important
part of the U.S. Constitution, The U.S. constitution got the first amendment by the
bill that was written by Thomas Jefferson in 1777. The 13 states had to ratify the
amendments before it came in action and we still use the first amendment today. It went
to effect on December15, 1791 and we still use the Constitution. The First Amendment
of the united states constitution protects the right of freedom of religion and freedom of
expression from government interference. Freedom of expression can be broken down
to many different things, the rights of freedom of speech, press, assembly, to petition the
government for a complaint, and the implied rights of association and belief. The most
basic part of freedom of expression is the right of freedom of speech. Not all countries
have freedom of speech. News editor Michael Moynihan states: Were one the few
countries in the western world that takes freedom of speech seriously. There are many
debates about freedom of speech should it be limited or should we have full freedom of
speech.The level of protection speech receives also depends on the situation in which it
takes place.

One argument on Freedom of speech is that freedom of speech causes hate

speech. Hate speech is speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of attributes
such as gender, ethnic origin, religion, race, disability, or sexual orientation. Free
speech does harm, a lot of harm said Garrett Epps. There's an argument on hate
speech many say it does exist and its harmful others might say there is no such thing as
freedom of speech or that first amendment protects freedom of speech. Eugene Volokh
said that there is no hate speech exception to the First Amendment. He said that
hateful ideas are just as protected under the first amendment as other ideas, he also
said that one is free to condemn Islam, Muslims or Jews, or black or whites or illegal
alien etc. According to Richards he said Many people are mistaken to in their beliefs
that offensive speech or hate speech is not protected.
People believe that there is no hate speech because they believe that the first
amendment gave us the right to express ourselves. They believe that according to first
amendment and our right of freedom of speech we can say whatever we want, they
thinks its okay to express ourselves in things we like or don't like, doesn't matter if
someone likes it or not they have the right to speak their mind. Whenever they are
against certain government actions or any other current events during that time they feel
it's obligated to criticize in whatever they can. They dont see if it's right or wrong. For
example how after 9/11 and still today due to that instead people use hate speech.They
feel obligated to say things or criticize Muslims. They say so many cruel things to
Muslims. Hate speech still exists today. Donald Trump uses hate speech in almost
everything he says. He criticizes Mexicans, Muslims etc. He uses hate speech against
Mexicans,he calls them rapists. He also uses hate speech against immigrants, he calls
them names and says that he will send them back to their countries. He thinks it's okay

to express himself and he just says whatever comes in his mind without thinking of the
consequences. When he called Mexicans rapists many people started to hate him for
that because that was a cruel comment or hate speech. A lot Muslims, their lives were
scared cause of hate speech they lost self respect, self confident. When my parents told
me to start wearing a hijab, I was scared to make that decision. I was scared of hearing
people criticizing me, my religion my hijab. When I finally decided to wear a hijab, I had
to be strong and be ready to hear criticism, cruel harsh words. People used to ask me
weird questions some used to stay make fun of me like what is that on your head. They
treated me as if I was an alien. No one said nothing to them because they had freedom
of speech, they had the right to express themselves but did they ever think about how I
felt after hearing all that cruel self out their mouth.
Nowadays hate speech is so common it's everywhere, on internet, social media
e.t.c. People dont even realize it because they're so used to it. On Instagram, Facebook
Twitter and other social apps they upload racist things and people laugh about it like if
its normal. They think its suppose to be funny. You will see hate speech everywhere.
There are racist cartoons that will say something about black or white or Muslims or
Christian. Politically incorrect jokes. For example Donald Trump he criticizes so many
people and no one stops him. People criticize the gay. People who don't support gay
marriage they say so much inappropriate things about it there's so many posters and
pictures you will find on it. Sexiest statements is also an example of hate speech. Racist
cartoons is a big thing too which falls under hate speech.People make politicians
incorrect.
The question is that, why are they able to say all that, why is there speech not
limited why are they not stopped from saying cruel and harsh things?

Many people don't support that argument, they believe that freedom of speech
needs to limited and have many restrictions.They believe that by giving people full
freedom of speech it can start hate speech. I support this argument. By giving people
full freedom to express themselves can turn into a disaster. People will no longer think
before speaking it already happens now. People think they have the right to say
whatever they want. It can turn into racism. Hate speech is the reason I believe we
shouldnt have full freedom of speech and that our freedom of speech should be limited.
Everytime hate speech is permitted its costs someone part of his or her self, part of
their self-respect, or part of their sanity. It hurts people really bad and hurts the society
around us too.
Hate speech needs to be stopped. Freedom of speech needs to be limited. Im not
saying we shouldnt have freedom of speech but I do think it should be limited. People
shouldnt say whatever they want. The media brainwashes people now a days and
whatever it says people believe it and they believe it and then they start doing
outrageous things. Like in recent events Islamophobia been increasing, In Islam it's now
allowed to take pictures especially of the prophet and people started drawing cartoons
of the prophet and when the muslims were outraged by this action. The non muslims
said that they have freedom of speech and there are many more similar events like this.
So I believe there should be a limit to it. Also by doing this it would benefit the younger
generations it would show them that words can really hurt so you should think more
than once before using it.

Bibliography
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Jan. 2016. Web. 06 Jan. 2016.

2) "Hate Speech on Campus." American Civil Liberties Union. N.p., 04 Jan. 2016.

Web. 04 Jan. 2016.

3) "Here's Donald Trump's Presidential Announcement Speech." Time. Time, 10

Jan. 16. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.

4) "First Amendment." LII / Legal Information Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.
5) "'Hate Speech' or 'Free Speech'?" YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.