Reference no: EM133769617

Assignment:

We speak up. We freely express our views at campus rallies, town halls, and school board meetings- and we don't take kindly to being silenced. We cherish the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. We proudly claim, "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." (reference Hall)

Lately, however, we are backing away from that claim. "I not only disagree with what you say, but I'm going to stop you from saying it."

"Eighty-four percent of Americans say that some Americans are not exercising their freedom of speech in everyday situations due to fear of retaliation or harsh criticism is either a very (40%) or somewhat (44%) serious problem, according to a new national New York Times Opinion/Siena College Poll. Over half, 55%, of Americans say that they have held their tongue, that is, not spoken freely over the last year because they were concerned about retaliation or harsh criticism, and compared to 10 years ago by 46-21% of Americans are less, rather than more, free to express their viewpoint on politics, and by 35-28% less, rather than more, free to discuss issues of race." (Siena College Research Institute, 2022)

Some speech is prohibited, such as a speech that urges someone to break the law. "Incitement" is speech "directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action" and "likely to incite or produce such action" (such as a speech to a mob urging it to attack a nearby building). But speech urging action at some unspecified future time may not be forbidden.

Discuss freedom of speech and address the questions below.

• Should limitations on speech go beyond incitement, defamation, fraud, obscenity, child pornography, fighting words, and threats?
• Should offensive speech be limited or shut down?

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