Media Spin

Halili 1
Meer Halili
Mrs. Grant
English
February 11, 2013
We are free to be you, me, stupid and dead
The Free-speech Follies For my english class, we are discussing, how far does the First Amendment let us go and how do people use it to get out of theMrs. Grantir situations? Based on my reading of two different essays issued with The First Amendment rights, i read: an essay tittled, "We Are Free to Be You, Me, Stupid, and Dead", that comes from Roger Rosenblatt's essay collection called where we stand :30 reasons why we love our country, and an essay from Stanley Fish, tittled "The free speech, Pollies", where he argues that the first Amendment rights is offen used on college campuses to speeches that are not enforced. In his essay, Journalist and author from New York city, Roger Rosenblatt, explains the situation of many people whom the First Amendment Rights were "taken away" and discusses how far can we go with the freedom of speech? but on the other essay, Stanley Fish, an author of literature and law, arguess the issue of how offen people use the First Amendment Rights to get out of their situations, knowing that their situation is not connected to the First Amendment Rights.

Halili 2
However, Rosenblatt and Fish notice the issues that connect people with the First Amendment Rights and how far people sometimes can go with it. They both see the First Amendment Rights not being used when needed to be used, and taken place when not suppossed to. For example, Rosenblatts talks about the issues that some celebrities have had to face because of the First Amendment Rights have not taken place and caused them loss of jobs. He claims that a basketball player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was suspended from the Basketball league for not willing to stand up for the national anthem because of his religious convictions. The same issue was reported for the baseball pitcher, John Rocker refused to ride New York's number seven subway with a certain people. In both cases, they have the freedom of expression ofthe First Amendment rights. He also believes that freedom of speech can go to far and out of limits for others. He talks about the banning of many books that libraries have had because of their challenging for giving different portrayes to students. He interviewed some executives of the company called "how do they live with themselves?" which they gave a positive answer "because of the freedom of choice"(484). In Virginia they banned a book called Hittler's hang-ups because of "explicit sexcual details of Hitler's life"(485). On the other hand, Fish talks about how the First Amendment Rights are used too much on college campuses to defend speeches that it was not created to defend. In some cases, Fish talks about the First Amendment Rights being used when there is no cause of it. Many students have had their published newspapers
Halili 3 turned out to be a major controversy; therefore they cry out for First Amendment rights to get out of such issues. Fish talked aobut a newspaper from a student stated that president should "seperate Jews from all government advisory positions"; so they do not face another Holocaust.When the students faced arguments because of it, they tried backing up their newspapers by using the First Amendment rights, which it can protect something you say but it doesn't protect a speech given out to the public. After reading these essays, I have realized how the First Amendment Rights are being misused. In Rosenblatt's case, celebrities are losing their great job position by being suspended from their athletic league because of their free expression of how they feel about some things when they Constitution does not say anything about not willing to practice other religious in the the First Amendment Rights. These articles have made me notice how important is to use the the First Amendment Rights in the right situation to avoid the cause of convinctions. I have also have a better understanding of when i can use these rights and how far I can go with them. In conclusion, I see the First Amendment rights being very beneficial to us. We should knowledge that many other countries do not have these rights we have; therefore their rights are limited. They can not say whatever they want. But, we need to know how far we can go with them. I totally disagreed with Fish's essay when he tells his story of students being stereotype and using the First Amendment Rights for this that it does not defend.
Halili 4
Works cited Rosenblatt, Roger. "We are free to be you, me, stupid and dead." Where We Stand: Thirty reasons for loving our country 2002: 483- 86. Fish, Stanley. "The Free-speech Follies" Chronicle of Higher Education 2003: 496- 500.