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The Pros And Cons Of Freedom Of Speech

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Free speech rights under the First Amendment of the Constitution are the bedrock of our democracy. Any democratic society must place freedom of speech as the cornerstone of all civil liberties. Freedom of speech rights afford citizens the ability to voice their concerns without repercussions from an oppressive government. On the one hand, this sentiment led the founding fathers of this great nation to establish the right to freely criticize the government, should that government become tyrannical. On the other hand, the same civil liberties that allow citizens to freely express their concerns against the government, are the same rights that allow them to express themselves through hateful messages against some sections of the population. These odious messages do not always add any social value to the free market of ideas. Nevertheless, citizens of a democratic society possess the freedom to express any messages, regardless of its value. The only exceptions are if speech becomes threatening, harassing or incites people to violence against an individual or group of individuals. This paper will do a comparative analysis between three arguments for banning hate speech, and three arguments for protecting hate …show more content…

In the case of Feiner v. New York, Irving Feiner, a black student, criticized President Truman while at the same time making inflammatory comments about the government to a crowd of about eighty people. He was arrested for calling people to stand up in arms and fight for their civil rights. The Supreme Court held that Feiner incited the crowd to riot by asking them to stand up and fight for their civil rights. Since the purpose of free speech rights is the liberty to express ideas, the Court carefully interprets speech that incites people to riot as unprotected speech under the First Amendment of the

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