Freedom of speech is one of the cornerstones of American Democracy and the U.S. political environment. It is a right given to our citizens protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The right to speak freely is essential in our political process and ensures the protection of minority populations and opinions without it many people in America would not have a platform on which they can go to be heard. Our society should continue to place fewer restrictions on freedom of speech. The prohibition or limitation of speech should only be permissible when speech is meant to incite violence, create a hostile environment on e.g. on school campuses, and extreme times of war when such speech would be detrimental to the war effort and national safety.
Additionally, freedom of speech should not include speech that incites violence such as riots. The First Amendment gives the people the right to “peaceably assemble” (source A). However, this does …show more content…
Silent and symbolic forms of this that do not distract from the teaching, such as “black armbands” as a form of protest against the Vietnam War should be allowed (source G). Though this freedom of speech should be limited when it is hostile to other students. Wearing to school a shirt that is “injurious to gay and lesbian students” hurts these student’s ability to learn and rightfully should not be allowed (source F). Also, this limitation of freedom of speech must never be discriminatory. If two separate parties commit the same offense, then it is not fair to punish one and not the other. An example of this would be an incident that occurred in Holliston High School, where they singled out and punished two students for doing something that many other students as well, but they were allowed to get away with it due to differences in content message (source