Editorial

 The Freedom of Speech

By Max Palmer

Give me Liberty or give me death….. Those were the words spoken by Patrick Henry who wanted freedom and equality for all human beings. These days’ students in school wonder and say “what rights do I have in school because the teachers don’t let me say or express myself the way I want? And isn’t that are first Amendment right?” Well ever since the constitution was created limitations were created to keep or order in a school or work place so the country doesn’t go nuts and also harassment and racism and Martin Luther King Junior happened so the school board put in restrictions so no becomes unhappy or offended so it`s what they think that will keep order in their schools and work places.  

            Over the years there have been groups of people (like the ACLU) who thought they have no rights and have created groups and committees so they can help others when they feel like oppressed “by the man”. There have been many Supreme Court cases on freedom of speech and self expression like Tinker. Vs .Moines were a group of students in Iowa wore black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War. The teachers said to them they have a no arm band policy and said if you refuse to take them off you will be suspended until you take them off. Most of the students did what the teachers said and took them off but all but Tinker and a few other students took this to civil court and said his right of self expression was being oppressed and the school was to blame. But the court ruled in their favor but Tinker went to the next level of court but he lost their too but he took his case all the way up to supreme court where he pleaded the same case as he did with the other trials (talk about sticking to the same strategy) but he lost their as well but never gave up to the end. And there were many more cases all across America about freedom of speech (most ended better than Tinkers).

            Personally I believe students should be able express themselves freely on school to certain limitations like the separation from church in state were we may respect your religion but you can`t go around preaching in school in hoping of converting others because religonal differences have caused countless wars in the past (and most likely the future). But really the only way you can express yourselves in school is your political opinions you can`t harass students you can`t convert people or start a church on school property and you can’t make real or fake threats or lie and say theirs bomb in the school (like two years ago in CVU a student said one day there was a bomb in the school and shortly after when the students were evacuated and they discover there was no bomb he was arrested). In the world of harassment their are four lines drawn in harassment were you cannot bully or harass because of said class and they are sexual orientation (as in no matter whether you like guys or gals no one came make fun or harass you) Disability (if you are physically or mentally disabled you can`t be harassed) Race (whatever country your from) Religion (what god or gods or no god you believe in) Sex (whether you have a ling ling or a ding ding) so there you go and bully someone verbally if you make fun of said classes your speech can be limited so if you hate someone hate the personality or sport team not class.

            As said in the past paragraph harassment in school is one kind of speech that can be restricted but there are other kinds of speech that can be restricted like symbolic speech (as in t-shirts signs pamphlet ect.). On school property any kind of speech can be restricted as long as it is offensive to others disrupts the learning or work environment. There is a case were in the past a group of boys wore HOOTER T-shirts (they have the best curly fries) that said Hooters more than a mouth and had the Os the owls eyes on the logo. But one the girls took offense to that ask to the boys to take them off because they perceived the shirts as offensive to women. The boys refused to take off the shirts so to get back at the guys (with help from an unnamed teacher) the girls made shirts that said COCKS nothing to crow about, but the teachers took site of that and asked the girls to take off said shirts or turn them inside out but they explained to the teachers that the boys wore offensive shirts as well but the teachers didn’t raise an eyebrow of interest. Later the girls took this to court and the court ruled in their favor and all offensive shirts that included shirts that have Alcohol racism or drug references were banned. So the moral of that story was any kind of speech verbal or symbolic speech can be restricted.   

            So in conclusion many kinds of speech can be banned but some restrictions may be necessary like separation from church in state because I don’t want half the religious students trying to convert me some people say it`s unnecessary because some people want a Christmas break but not a winter break but they`ll just have to put up with it. Some restrictions maybe just plain stupid like no clothes that advertise for alcohol because hey I never say a Bud wiser offer a kid a cold one. So my last statement is some restrictions are necessary some are totally stupid but they keep the school from turning into cavemen and us having war over territory, but at last are speech maybe limited to nothing that is over PG when there is a teacher is within a 5 yard radius but the thought that we can say something makes it all somewhat worth it.              

Interview

For my interview i interviewed Patrick Johnson president of the Vermont NRA. The first question I asked him was "Patrick how much free speech do you think the school systems give us these days?" he replied "well I think the limitations of free speech has increased over the years thanks to past lawsuits about common folks who felt that their free speech was being oppressed and schools have set up said limitations to prevent harassment and creating a hostile learning environment" I said interesting. the next question I asked him was "do you think their should be more limitations on freedom of speech in schools?" he replied " well I think their enough limitations on free speech because if their will be more rules will be broken the more rules you add like take Switzerland for example. There every single man is required to have an assault weapon and there gun crime rate is 0 but now lets take New york they have the most gun control laws and there gun crime rate is through the roof. So you see the more laws rules or limitations you place on something said rules are going to be broken more so no I don`t think there should be more limitations on free speech. The third question I asked him was "Do you think their should be less limitations on free speech in schools?" Patrick replied "No because the current limitations on free speech in school is somewhat reasonable but any less rules and kids would go crazy with swearing." And that concluded the interview. It was interesting hearing the personal opinions of the NRA`s president on free speech and his thoughts about having too many limitations and too little limitations.

Stakeholders

(Pro)
Ever since the first amendment was created every American citizen was pro free speech because the people have agreed that the right of free speech and symbolic or metaphoric expression has been 100% pro and no one had a complaint. And the ACLU is an orginization that helps people whos first amendment right is being oppressed they say fight hate speech with free speech. So they are a very commited orginization that help people like in time square were their was an anti muslim advertizing but thanks to the ACLU they took the advertizing down. http://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech-religion-belief/aclu-still-winning
(Con)
But  also in the past their have been cases in the past were people have been feeling that their right of free speech was being oppressed like Tinker vs Moines, Hooter vs Cocks all were cases of freedom of  speech and self expression (you can read about said cases lower down in the blog). But the thing is free speech we may be able to talk freely and express ourselves is if your on somebodies else s property or business or school you must obey their rules that`s what the one clause in all cases the people did not follow the rules or failed to be specific about them so free speech isn`t being oppressed its people who don`t look at the rules.

Panel Day

On panel day a group of students and I got into a room with two teachers Adam Bunting and Babra Crippin (their was supposed to be three but she did not show up). We had a discussion about freedom of speech we talked about court cases and the people who tried to fight for free speech. Personally I could go either way with the restrictions of freedom of speech because 1. people have fought and died so they can speak what is on their mind so they could say what they want when they want and at school you have as much free speech here as in Cuba 2. If people constantly speak out their thoughts their would be thousands of debates and debates our the first step into fights and the next thing you know the youth of America will be talking back and swearing and the entire country breaks into chaos and people like me will be looting everywhere. So I think their should be a balance between the two not enough restrictions were people say what the government wants them to say and nobody can speak their minds and not enough limitations were people argue all the time and the country goes into chaos. So in this debate I could go either way. But Adam and Barbra both did agree that freedom of speech is good  but in school their should be some restrictions.

Current Interpitation of Freedom of Speech

These days some people believe freedom of speech is the right to say what you want when you want, but that is some what true and wrong at the same time. Ever since that amendment was created people have put guidelines and limitations on it like harassment it is basically is creating a hostile environment or saying inappropriate remarks to another person. But also fake threats or warnings are limited too like "Oh my god the  movie theater is catching on fire" but if you lie about that the constitution cant protect you and you will most likely be thrown in jail or have a hefty fine on your hands. Also that your free speech is very restricted on school or government property and your working area in those places your speech is very limited like you cant say or do anything that could harass other people express or try to convert people to your religion (well I think that one is just for school) or do anything that could ruin the work or learning environment but one thing you can say freely is your political opinion that`s is one of the vary few things were their is no restrictions on. So in a non work or school environment  your free to say or do what you want but if you are in that kind of area keep your thoughts to yourselves.Another right people have been debating about is freedom of the press I know celebrities complain paparazzi but school or government cant do anything about that because they unfortunately have the right to bring the news to the people but the loophole theirs is invasion of privacy. But after all any publicity is good publicity unless its a video of you smoking a bong (Hanna Montana). So in conclusion we have free speech but their are many limitations on it these days so sometimes its good sometimes it sucks but we have to deal with it so suck it up and enjoy.

Court cases

Through the years people have been wondering where is the line drawn when it comes to freedom of speech and self expression. All though people may have been wondering that their have been many cases involving freedom of expression like Fw/PBS, Inc. vs. city of Dallas http: //atheism.about.com/od/freedomofspeech/a/FWPBSDallas.htm. Were people were complaining about city ordinance laws allowing a place to run a sexual ordinance business so in order to shut it down the people brought it to court. All though people may have been offended and disturbed of this building business and what it was selling it was freedom of expression and since it posed no threat or created a hostile environment the court ruled in the stores favor.Their are many many cases involving freedom of speech (here`s a website that has a list of them http://atheism.about.com/od/freedomofspeech/tp/SupremeCourtFreeSpeech.htm) sometimes what you say or express can be limited  and other times what other people say or do cant be limited.

Free Speech

Free Speech is what originally the right to speak your mind when and were ever you want. But over the years stereotypes sexual jokes threats and racism have kicked in and the right of free speech had a line drawn through it. Most people say people have fought and died for the right to speak their minds but their are other rules in the constitution that may restrict your speech like a separation from church to school which means that we may respect your religion but you cant express it like Jesus is every ones lord and Savior and try to convert others on school or government property it sucks but it is the rules that our fore fathers set. And their are other restrictions like threatening someone or saying your dead and later someone actually kills the person because you say hes dead you would be held responsible.
        These days people have questions that are like were the line is drawn when it comes to free speech but the line is only drawn school or government property if your on either your restrictions is insulting the disabled or a specific religion and or race and sexual orientation and creating a hostile learning or working environment for others (like rally's protests ect.) or threats but if your not on school or government property your free to say what you want when you want so long as its not a threat or a fake warning (like saying theirs a bomb in my house) or offensive to others (well you can but its not really polite or nice if you do) but if you do protest be ware of dogs, fire hoses, fertilizing trucks, mace, bulldozers. Another issue of freedom of speech is dress code because people say "we have freedom of self expression why cant we dress the way we want?" well theirs a thing these days called a dress code it what makes sure that girls don`t like hookers (only term i could think of sorry for those who are offended) and so on. But anyways as I saying dress codes make sure it is not a distracting environment for other students so they wont get distracted by anything and they can focus on work. their were many court cases that were involving symbolic expression like one day at a school a boy was wearing a rainbow shirt to support gay rights but the school did not like that so they banned everything rainbow shirts sodas, skittles, star bursts anything that had a rainbow then the students sued the school and the court ruled in their favor.
        Their are many cases involving freedom of speech and expression like the famous Hooters vs Cocks case were in Ame's middle school, in Iowa their were a few boys wore shirts saying hooters more than a mouth full for a couple of years no really cared until one day some girls took offense to that so they (with help from a teacher) made T-shirts that said Cocks Nothing to crow that have a rooster on them (ha) about to make a point to the boys so they would know what it would feel like to insult the opposite gender but at the school the teachers looked at that and said to turn those shirts inside out but the girls stated to say that when boys had shirt that said hooters nobody would even raise an eyebrow of interest but when a women wears a shirt that has an offensive slogan insulting men (basically) on it you swarm it like locust on a corn field. So the girls took it to court and at the end the hooters and cocks shirts were banned(too bad). But the ironic thing about that was that the girls wanted to show the guys how offensive those shirts are but they were forced to take them off so the guys didn`t learn a thing so the girls won and lost at the same time.
          Another famous case was Tinker vs Des Moines (a name of a school) were students wore black arm bands to protest the Americans being in the Vietnam war. But at the school arm bands were banned and any student caught wearing would be suspended if he/she would not remove said arm bands. So the next day John Tinker and Mary Beth wore their arm bands despite knowing that they would get suspended and took this issue with district court but sadly the court ruled in the schools favor and after that they went to the next level of court until they got all the way up to supreme court and they explained to the court it is the 1st amendment to the right of free speech and symbolic speech but then the court explained that protests like that can cause the disruption of the learning environment and students causing said disruption can be suspended or expelled so the Tinker lost and ruled in the schools favor. So the right of free speech can apply but restrictions can happen on school or government property so in conclusion restrictions may happen to your right of free speech and self expression depending on how you express yourself.
           Constitutional connections to the first amendment is very tricky these days people wonder what connects the right of free speech and expression has to do with us today. Well the connection is that the first amendment guarantees that we have a right to free speech and self and on occasions symbolic expressions but over the years the constitution put restrictions on it so long as your free expression does not disrupts someones pursuit of happiness and there are other restrictions and court cases but just look up and you`ll read them