Conclusion

Just to clarify, this is Lila's blog, and all of Lila's posts - no one else was involved in the making of this blog or the material that appears on it. I spent most of my time on the "This I Believe" essasy, so if you are going to look at anything, look at that. Please enjoy your first amendment rights responsibly.

Freedom of the Press

Of the restrictions illustrated here, the press is not allowed to make public government restricted information without government approval, use hate speech, show child pornography, or infringe copyright law, in order from top to bottom.

Freedom of Speech

In a 1949 ruling Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “The Constitution is not a suicide pact." In formulating the clear and present danger doctrine, wrote that because of the danger it presented, it should be illegal to "scream fire in a crowded movie theatre."

I agree with Justice Holmes in that freedom of speech should be restricted when it causes the eminent danger of others. Watching video segments of the beliefs of the Westboro Baptist Church, I was appalled at their actions and reasoning. However, I do not believe the government has the authority to regulate what these or any other people are saying. When solicitors call you over the phone, you are able to get restrictions on their number so that you aren’t bothered by them again. Because this church goes as far as disrespecting and disturbing funerals, I think the public should have the option of protection against such harassment through the state. Otherwise regulating freedom of speech should not be under government jurisdiction. I disagree with what other people have to say quite frequently, and I either voice my own opinion, or respectfully keep my mouth shut, but I would never consider infringing upon another’s civil liberties because of my own bias. I wouldn’t go as far as defending their right to say as they please as Voltaire would in his quote, "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it." I think people only deserve their rights if they know what their rights are (not that I’m saying individuals unaware of their rights should not have those rights, but I am certainly not going to go out of my way for another person’s ignorance unless I believe in their case).

Quote

Your right to swing your arm ends where the other person’s nose begins. ~ Voltaire

You can do as you please until it harms someone else. We as individuals do have restrictions in the United States, for instance, we cannot drink until our 21st birthday, so we do not have the absolute individual freedom outlined by Voltaire's theory. When we do negatively affect other people to the extent that we break the law, though, we surrender our rights to the government.

So to some extent we live in accordance to Voltaire's philosophy, only with less freedom.

This I Believe

"This I Believe: I believe that I am incapable of writing a passionate essay demonstrating my belief in one thing. There are plenty of things I have opinions on. Finding one that I can pour my heart into through this essay is difficult, though. A belief, to me, is something that will stay with you for life. At eighteen, who is to say that my opinions won’t change? I suppose I could say that, but how should I know? The only other likely candidate might be God, but I don’t think God can say it. He can think it, but he can’t say it to me, if there even is a god.

Religion is a touchy subject for me. For most people it is what gives them purpose in life, so faith would be the subject of the majority’s “This I Believe” essays. I don’t have a religion, though, at least not now. Having been religiously solicited beyond my tolerance, I am tempted to believe it hypocritical of followers of one faith to denounce another as false. When someone tells another person that their beliefs are wrong, it really irks me, especially because that person has no proof of the validity of their own religion. Yet they believe in it so much to defend it just as fast as they would defend the color of the grass. Not having such strong belief, I feel I am in no position to judge.


At first, I felt ashamed that I don’t have strong enough convictions to pick one to write a couple hundred words about. Pondering further, I realize that the reason for my indecisiveness is because I am only eighteen years old and unwilling to let anything other than my own thoughts and experiences bias my beliefs. So I have opinions, I have convictions; they are just not well defined. Even when I was in kindergarten at a Christian school, I had trouble praying “the prayer” that would free me of all the transgressions I could have possibly committed in my first five years of life. I wanted to hear God himself tell me that I would be forgiven, not my math teacher. As I didn’t think I had much to go off of at age five to dedicate myself to a religion, at eighteen I don’t think I’ve lived enough to truly believe in something still. Why should I practice or express something that I don’t wholeheartedly believe in? I think everyone should stop to consider why they believe what they do. The people who write these essays have certainly done so, but think about if everyone in the world was given such an essay prompt. I know that I am not the only one who is stumped by such a seemingly simple question as, “What do you believe in?” Even for someone who isn’t, write an essay, and in twenty, forty, even two years, reread it and see if you still think the same. Maybe the next person to read this might reconsider if what they believe in is truly their own."

I am thankful for my first amendment rights, because without them I would not be able to make this essay public, nor would I still have the freedoms I take advantage of everyday, especially the freedoms of and from religion, and freedom of expression.

1st Amendment Quiz

So I took the first amendment quiz, having not read the 45 words of the first amendment in a while. I think I did fairly well, though, scoring a 24 out of 30. Some of the answers to the questions I found rather surprising, like how minors aren't protected from the press, and how nudity, not obscenity is protected by the first amendment (depending upon the case nudity may be protected, but obscenity is never). I also found out what DEFAMATION means; it is the false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another, as by slander or libel, according to dictionary.com.

You should download a free first amendment poster here. I sure did! *says as fingers are crossed behind back*

Blog Intro

This is Lila's blog for Mr. Milner's Civil Liberties Project. I named it after the definition, creative, huh? I did customize the layout to make it green, though, because green is awesome.