Free Speech: A Cover for Violence and Hate.
When we think of what makes America unique, we think of our freedom of speech. The First Amendment states that, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances". No American has to fear persecution for voicing their opinion. Does this mean that as citizens of the United States we have the right to say whatever we want no matter how vulgar, hateful, and violent the words? Are racial slurs and threatening comments also covered by the First Amendment? Apparently, many people feel that such expressions are just an exercise of our constitutional rights, but this attitude is a gross perversion of what our founding fathers intended The First Amendment stand for. .
Take for example a group of high school students in Florida known as the Killian 9. These students wrote, illustrated and published a pamphlet called "The First Amendment". In it they bashed the principal and the administration of their school for what they felt were unfair policies enforced at their school. On the cover there was a picture of the principal with an arrow through his head, and a passage within alluded to vulgar sexual acts involving the principal. One student even made the comment that he wondered what would happen if he shot the principal and other authority figures in the school. When the nine students behind the pamphlet were arrested they couldn't understand why. They felt that the first amendment was a blanket statement that covered anything they had to say. .
I have also personally witnessed utterances that I found appalling. I was at an amusement park once with a friend who was black, and she accidentally bumped into the person in front of us in line for a ride.