A Significant Meaning of Freedom of Speech

Even though freedom of speech can be tricky, understanding what can be said under the first amendment is key. Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on "hate speech". In the article Todays Students Have a New Way of Looking at Free Speech Kathleen stated ... most students want their college to be a place where uncomfortable ideas can be debated openly. This statement goes to show that it is very significant that free speech is expressed in many ways. Students in certain schools have little to no verbal opinion on what happens at their school. There are certain things youre allowed to say, and certain things that you are not allowed to say. Whatever happened to freedom of speech and does it exist on college campuses? When freedom of speech is confined in higher institutions, it diminishes the development of adults importance of this crucial right. Fahrenheit 451 gives an example of not having free speech. The society was a very close-minded society. No one ever thought of speaking up and expressing their true emotions. Most people just were afraid of being judged or offending others. In the article The Importance of Protecting Even the Thoughts We Hate Eugene Volokh states One way that speech restrictions often grow is through what I call censorship envy. If one group is given the power to suppress speech offensive to it, others are likely to press harder to get the same privilege for themselves. Lastly, Julie Lythcott stated in Millennials Will Soon Define ?America, and Thats a Problem for Ideas that Students who wont hear other perspectives are essentially sticking their fingers in their ears and pretending the issue is not open to discussion. If we continue to not express the freedom of speech everyones feelings would be bottled up inside and there would be no escape for feelings. The first amendment in the US constitution states that people are allowed to speak and write what they wish, and yet colleges and universities are disregarding it when they censor the statements. Yet, what is it that colleges are protecting students from? If it were from people writing instructions on how to build a bomb, then one could argue that the protection of life is more important than freedom of speech. Yet, all of the regulations in US colleges and universities are there to stop people writing or saying things that the college/university in question feels are offensive. They usually revolve around religion or political views. Colleges and universities in the US are banning students from speaking, writing and even holding opinions that contradict what the college likes.

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