In my new issues in America class we've been discussing freedom of speech and whether certain forms of freedom of speech should be restricted. It does need to be restricted in some forms because having full rights to freedom of speech can be dangerous, start confrontation, go against the law, disturb the natural flow of society. We went over some discussions in class and there was one that really stood out to me. I thought the answer to whether or not this man should have been punished was an easy conclusion to make, yet my class had many different opinions and reasoning for how they came up with their conclusions. Situation was about a man who was drafted and he is against the draft so he burned his draft letter. Burning a draft letter is against the law. He was sentenced to jail. So the question is, was it wrong to punish him for this when he was just protesting against the draft. Did the government go against his right to freedom of speech? I thought that they did not go against his right to freedom of speech because our freedom of speech is limited. If your act of freedom of speech involves committing a crime then you should be punished for it. I think that there are better ways to protest against the draft than to commit a crime. Another person made the argument that everyone should be able to protest against things they don’t believe in and if they don’t believe in the draft then they should have the right not to join. My opinion is that just because you don’t believe in a law doesn’t mean you don’t have to follow it. This person did have the right to protest against the draft but in the manner he did it he still committed a crime and should still be punished for the crime he committed.
The rights to our freedom of speech need to be somewhat restricted because if it’s not than we will have a lot of people breaking the law, and being put in dangerous situations. Everyone knows the examples screaming "BOMB!" in the middle of an airport and "FIRE!" in the middle of a movie theater. Yes people have the right to freedom of speech but screaming things like that in those places that are filled with a lotto of people is not safe and your freedom of speech should be stopped if it involves causing the unsafe of others. I went to a Catholic school for one year in fourth grade (even though I’m not catholic). We had to wear uniforms of Corse and that included no makeup, only black headbands, clips or hair ties and no nail polish. So the school would give you your uniform early on and you have to wear that same uniform every day and every year you attended the school. People grow? Maybe the school district forgot about that but kids grow. A lot. So on my first day of school I showed up in this tiny short dress I wasn’t yet comfortable wearing, nail polish and a hot pink headband. I was sent home for wearing nail polish and a colorful headband. I got over it. I didn’t mind looking the same as everyone else because then I would be fitting in, in this new school and I would be drawing any unwanted attention to myself. After maybe a month I was just way to uncomfortable about the length of my dress. God forbid i were to drop a pencil I would be exposing myself. My mom came up with this idea that I could just wear shorts under my dress and no one would know. Silly me. I didn’t think about all of the extreme jealousy I would be getting from all of the other girls when I would be able to pick up my pencil off of the ground with no problem. Of Corse the teachers found out and I was sent home. Again. My parents were furious at the school and the next day I dressed exactly the way the school wanted me too but I didn’t speak to anyone or do any work. I just sat there with a note from my parents saying that if my freedom of speech isn’t allowed there then I might as well not speak at all.
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