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Freedom of Speech vs. Censorship Essay Adopted in 1791, the First Amendment, states â€Å"Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.† (Pilon) The freedom of speech documented in the First Amendment is not only a constitutional protection but also an inevitable part of democratic government and independence, which are essential values in society. â€Å"Censorship,† according to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, â€Å"is an almost irresistible impulse when you know you are right† (Sunstein). That is why the American citizen’s right to free speech should be held as the highest virtue and any censorship of freedom of speech should not be allowed, however, should be respected. Freedom of speech is essential part of democratic government because the only way truth can emerge when there is an open competition of ideas. However, there is a strong support of censorship when people start mentioning extremely offensive opinions. Should the freedom of speech be limited in this case? The answer is â€Å"No†. â€Å"If liberty means anything at all,† writes George Orwell, â€Å"it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.† (Cox) If we want to enjoy the freedom fully, the full protection should be given to the freedom of speech; there are no compromises about it. Freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment is not just a right, which can be declared or abolished. According to the â€Å"liberty theory,† proposed by some lega l scholars, freedom of speech is an essential part of the liberty of every person who pursues an individual self-determination and self-realization (Cox). Thus, freedom of speech is also a global right one that permits freedom of personal development and self-expression. Another theoretical ground to support the freedom of speech is called â€Å"tolerance theory.† It holds that the ability to teach and promote tolerance is one of the most important assets of freedom of speech (Cox). From this perspective, freedom of speech itself excludes any type of intolerance, which sometimes appears in a threatening form (religious intolerance, racial intolerance). The â€Å"tolerance theory† implies self-restraint, which is the only appropriate response to any ideas, even those that we may personally may dislike or hate. The â€Å"tolerance theory† provides a broader context for exercising tolerance in a conflict-ridden democratic society. Furthermore, in legal practice there are certain restrictions on freedom of speech imposed by the Supreme Court. They define a few categories of speech, which are considered not to be fully protected by the First Amendment. These categories include defamation, advocacy of imminent illegal conduct, obscenity and, fraudulent misrepresentation (Farber). However, if the speech does not fall within one of these categories, there are no grounds for the government to argue that freedom of speech should be restricted because of its harmful content. One of the common bases for partial censorship is proof that the freedom of speech causes imminent illegal action. The Supreme Court has already drawn a careful line between general abstract theories and political dissent on one hand and particular illegal acts incitement on the other. This line is drawn by definition of â€Å"clear and present danger† test (Farber). The government cannot sue the speaker on the basis of its tendency or possibly illegal conduct incitement. Before any speech is punished on the grounds of incitement, there is an obligatory three-part criterion that should be met. First, the speech must directly incite lawless action. Second, the context of speech must imply imminent breaking of the law, rather than call for illegal conduct at some indefinite future time. At last, there should be a strong intention to produce such conduct (Farber). Such â€Å"clear and present danger† test determines the level of probability of threat imposed by the speech in question. However, the evil, which the government tries to prevent by outlawing the advocacy, does not outweigh the harm of outlawing the free speech. Only when the imposed danger becomes evident, the freedom of speech may be questioned. We must be aware that the price for preventing several cases of the openly declared illegal conduct may be paid by restriction of one of the most essential rights that constitute freedom for the entire nation. For the wellbeing and public safety, the Supreme Court has imposed certain regulations on the freedom of speech not because of its content, but because of the time, place and, manner the speech is being expressed (Farber). The court pointed out in Snyder v. Phelps (2011) that one way to ascertain whether a restriction is content-based versus content-neutral is to consider if the speaker had deliver a different message under exactly the same circumstances (Supreme Court of the United States). However, these rules do not limit the actual freedom of speech and are not even upheld, if there is no public need for this. However, concerning the content-neutral regulation, it raises many controversial issues. The content-neutral regulation requires a very careful distinction and therefore may sometimes be misinterpreted. There is a raising concern that such regulation may weaken people’s right to participate, especially if the government puts too many restrictions on how the ideas should be voiced. Thus, by analyzing the current issues concerning the First Amendment right to free speech in the United States, I wanted to show the perspective of outlawing this right, and the negative aspects t hat such outlawing may involve. Freedom of speech has served a crucial role for the right to dissent and for the entire principle of democracy in our society. This law was developed during the course of American history and only after numerous struggles it was achieved. The evolution of this law is still in progress however, the limitation of the basic right to free speech may as well limit our freedom and democracy, therefore should be respected and protected. Works Cited Cox, A. A Freedom of Expression. Cambridge: Harvard University, 1981. Print. The Declaration fo Independence and the Consitituion fo the United States. The Declaration fo Independence and the Consitituion fo the United States. By Roger Pilon. N.p.: Cato Institute, 2000. 1-10. Print. Farber, D. The First Amendment. New York: Foundation Press, 1998. Print. Sunstein, C. Democracy and the Prolem of Free Speech. New York: Free Press, 1993. Print. United States v. Kozminski 487 U.S. 931 (1988). U.S. Supreme Court, n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2013. http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/487/931/. United States. Supreme Court. Supreme Court of the United States of America. Supreme Court of the United States of America, Oct. 2010. Web. 1 May 2013. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-751.pdf.

The Perfect Woman: Rousseau and Wollstonecraft Essay --

If scholarship is done right, it is that which is done impartially. The topic of this paper, the perfect woman, written by a man, may give those with prejudgments a ready answer to it; without the due analysis required by it. Reading both authors now, it is easy to bash Rousseau with sexism and stamp Wollstonecraft with feminism. But such was not my task, rather I examined both with an unprejudiced eye to the best of my ability. Thus, I hope the same is reciprocated by my reader, and take my interpretations and criticisms with the same impartial mind. To begin, then, my argument, I assert that although Rousseau and Wollstonecraft effect disparate views on the best education for women, the supposed disagreement of their model of the perfect woman is specious; their concept of the human species and its purpose is truly in contention. It is imperative to outline such mode of education regarded by each as the best to raise a woman. Since Wollstonecraft critiques much of Rousseau’s, I begin with his model. â€Å"Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the author of things; everything degenerates into the hands of man,† is the first line of Book I in Rousseau’s Emile or On Education (161). Emile is not a book for a social system of education, but one specifically for the â€Å"tender and foresighted mother, who [is] capable of keeping the nascent shrub away from the highway and securing it from the impact of human opinions†(162). Therefore, the mother is advised to â€Å"observe nature and follow the path it maps out to you† in the education of her children, the same nature which Rousseau has taken to educate the imaginary Emile and Sophie: the man and the woman; the future husband and wife. Therefore, in educating the perfect woman, the futu... ...o a role of mother and wife in both), but in their account of humanity. The charge of sexism on Rousseau and the badge of feminism on Wollstonecraft render their arguments elusive, as if Rousseau wrote because he was a sexist and Wollstonecraft because she was a feminist, which is certainly not true. Their work evinced here by the authors questioned the state of man and woman in relation to their conception of what it should be, what its purpose, and what its true species. With an answer to these questions, one concludes the inhumanity of mankind in society, and the other the inhumanity of mankind in their natural, barbarous state. The one runs from society, to the comforts and direction of nature; the other away from nature, to the reason and virtue of society. The argument presented may be still elusive, and the work in vain, but the point not missed, perhaps.

Lab Report Essay

Heat it to 90 C and hold this temperature for 10 minutes. 2. Cool it to 50 C in a bath of ice water. 3. Shake the culture bacteria to free it from lumps and add to the milk. 4. Transfer the inoculated milk into the beaker or jar. Cover. 5. Incubate the milk for 4 hours at 43 to 46 degrees until clotted. Clotting of milk indicates the bacteria utilized the sugars and underwent fermentation. 6. Chill for 1 – 2 hours 7. Stir the yogurt to make the texture smooth. 8. Package and consume III. Results and Discussion Kind of Milk| Taste| Color| Texture| Smell| Low- fat milk| Yogurt-like| Beige| Smooth| Sour| Full-cream milk| Very Sour| Beige| Thick| Very sour| In the table above, the reason why there were only 2 kinds of milk is because 2 groups used low fat milk and the other 2 used full-cream milk. As being compared from the table above, using full-cream milk caused the taste and the smell of the product (yogurt) to be extra sour. Yogurt is naturally sour because of the acid present in it. Also, the full-cream milk caused the texture to be thicker compared to the yogurt used with low-fat milk. Even though different kinds of milk were used, the color of the yogurt was the same, which was Beige. IV. Conclusion Based on the given results and discussion of the data, the characteristics (taste, color, texture, and smell) of the yogurt will depend on what kind of milk will be used for the yogurt making process. V. Recommended If one were to do the same experiment above, the group would recommend that they use low-fat milk to make their own yoghurt.

The ACA and Racial and Ethnic Disparities - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 497 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2019/08/08 Category Health Essay Level High school Topics: Affordable Care Act Essay Did you like this example? In the United States of America, there is a wide gap between whites and minority groups when it comes to accessibility to healthcare and insurance coverage. The article discusses how some minorities, specifically blacks and Hispanics, had higher chances of encountering obstacles relating to healthcare prior to the implementation of the ACA. Its aim is to assess how the ACAs expansion of coverage has affected inequalities in healthcare for adults. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The ACA and Racial and Ethnic Disparities" essay for you Create order Data was collected and analyzed from the American Community Survey which is a yearly survey performed by the U.S. Census Bureau with information on demographics, social, economic and housing attributes; and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System which is the top system within the U.S. for collecting health related data using telephone surveys. After the ACA, the rates of uninsured blacks and Hispanics decreased however the question still remained if health disparities between whites and ethnic and racial minorities dropped. This article addresses this question in addition to access to insurance coverage and care; and compares this amongst states which chose and did not choose to expand Medicaid Coverage. There were 27 states together with the District of Columbia, which in 2014 to 2015 expanded their Medicaid program and 23 states which did not. Three key measurements were used: adults of working age (19 64) who were uninsured, adults 18 years and older who within the past year who did without care due to its price, and adults 18 years and older who did not have a source of care. The findings were that healthcare access improved for all parties involved in this study when using the above three measurements and appear to contribute to the decrease in the disparities gap between white and minorities even with higher rates of uninsured blacks and Hispanics. The rate of uninsured adults declined overall and although blacks and Hispanics are more affected by the costs associated in their ability to obtain healthcare, the number of individuals going without care also decreased across the board. The number of adults who did not have a healthcare provider also shrunk but the number is still high especially with the Hispanic population. For states which opted for Medicaid expansion, access to healthcare and insurance coverage for adults was better, and racial and ethnic disparities for the measurement indicators were less although there were improvements in all states. Improvements in states which did not do the Medicaid expansion were due to the availability of subsi dies for premiums and insurance marketplace brought about by the ACA. There are still a total of 19 states which have not chosen the Medicaid expansion some of which have large minority populations. Based on the findings of this study, election of the ACAs Medicaid Expansion option can be very beneficial in helping to reduce the racial and ethnic disparities that exist and aid in the improvement of access to care for all. Reference: Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to Care: Has the Affordable Care Act Made a Difference? Issue Brief (Commonw Fund). 2017 Aug;2017:1-14.