Aspects of Free Speech - Coursework Example

Free speech and number submitted. Introduction Freedom of speech is the right to communicate ideas or opinions freely by using ones property or body to anyone who is willing and has been achieved after a number of constitutional amendments. Today, different countries have obtained constitutional guidelines on the limitations of freedom of speech. As much as there have been activism on the need to allow people to express themselves, there has also arose a need of regulating the extent to which people should express themselves. It is important since it mitigates the possibility of one harming another in the name of freedom of speech. Insight on freedom of speech became an issue way in the 6th and 5th century BC among the Athenians democratic. Later on, the Roman republic, introduced both freedom of religion and speech. The strides made at this time, marks some of the earliest steps made towards ensuring that there is freedom of expression. In the contemporary world, there have been explicit guidelines on freedom of speech as expressed in various constitutions in the world (Harris, 2009). For instance, in the United States, freedom of expression is not total; the United States Supreme Court has identified several categories of speech. Hence, they need to be restricted reasonably to the timing, manner, and place when they are used. Some of the major restrictions identified include obscenity, inciting imminent lawless action, child pornography, and regulation of advertisements to ensure that they meet minimum decency standards. Most limitation on free speech is made to balance human rights. They include, limiting use of other people words like those of authors in order to maintain their copyright. Further, there are limitations on the use of fighting words on colleagues. Lastly, people are protected from the use of untruth words that may be used to harm others imposing a limitation on the same. The limitations are not only restricted to speech, they are also applicable to various acts that may have significance symbolically. Limitations on freedoms of speech have to be observed to ensure that they do not infringe human rights. At the same time, there is a wide range of implications on freedom of speech by different concepts like federalism, civil rights, and civil liberty in the American society. The freedom of speech has been shaped overtime in relation to these concepts Implications for civil liberties on freedom of speech Civil liberties are meant to protect human beings from powerful entities that include, the government, cooperation, and even individuals who are more powerful. The government of the United States, ensures that people express themselves freely at the same enjoy the other persons expression without oppression from other entities that may be more powerful than the individual. Civil liberty as it is represented in the bill of rights has been under controversy in relation to its wording. From the wording in the constitution, civil liberty is supposed to protect people from oppression perpetuated by the government mostly. However, from the interpretations obtained from the courts, violation of the privileges presented in the first amendment, can be applied within the civil liberty. The lack of clarity in the laws wording, has left other cooperation’s taking advantage of the loophole hence infringing the right to freedom of expression by the other entities (Kersch, 2003). The civil liberty, at the same time, does not protect people from, the infringement of rights by religion or their employees. Some of the types of speech that are not protected constitutionally under the civil liberty include, false statements or defamation, obscenity, verbal acts, child pornography, fighting words and damaging of the national interest in terms of security. By the fact that some of these are captured in the first amendment privileges, people still have to express their rights of speech with caution when under this civil liberty sphere. Courts have that option of terming any of the violations of the above-mentioned privileges, illegal. Thus, the freedom of speech has to be utilized in line with the entity. To avoid conflicts, one has to have in mind the constitutional provision on both the freedom of speech and civil liberty. It is impossible to experience any probable huddles. At the end of the day, everybody involved will have the full protection from any law violations, which is key in ensuring consistent human rights observance. Free speech and federalism Federalism is the system of government whereby a country is managed from a central government. In addition to that, other much lesser governments or state deals with issues in different states. These federal governments are usually under the rule of law, which acts as a guideline for all the actions involved. In the federal government’s constitutions of the United States, there are bill of rights that have been amended by the senate over time. Freedom of speech is one of the bill of rights contained in the federal constitution (Volokh, 2000). Most of the states in America have come up with their own unique laws that are unique to the issues that they are going through in their places. Freedom of speech is one of the rights that are contained in the national constitutions; the Supreme Court has further explained them, which is part of the central government. Nevertheless, different states have their own definitions of freedom of speech even though they have to comply with the federal constitution needs The Supreme Court is the one that after closely studying the effects of freedom of speech in its utilization came up with some limitation hence rendering the freedom of speech not absolute. It is for the better for the fact that some the limitations act for the good of the city. They cushion the society form improper communication that can be detrimental to not only the adults but also children. As a result the federal government utilizing its arms of government ensures that there is the right form of freedom that is beneficial to the society at large (Asad, 2011). For the federal government, it has been possible to have the general freedom of speech bill of rights that is observed by all states. The federal government to some extent acts like the care caretaker of the citizens in all the other states. All the states as they formulate their laws within any of the concepts that affect free have to comply with the federal requirements on freedom of expression. The federal government is the custodian of the amendments made on the bill of rights, hence serves to guide other states in any form of legislations they pass to ensure that they don’t affect the freedom of speech Implications for civil rights on freedom of speech Civil rights ensure that there is no undermining or discrimination of human beings or their repression. The civil rights are aimed at protecting human beings from discrimination on either gender, race, colour or ethnicity at any given point in time. As a consequent, they too played a role in ensuring that there is that freedom of speech among people in the society. Among other rights that were fought for by the civil rights, movements were political rights. These political rights protect individual from oppression by either the government or individual persons in the world over. They form the original part of the human rights. Freedom of speech is part of the civil rights, people should be allowed to express themselves freely among themselves in the society which of essence. Freedom of speech, is part of the human rights and it is and it shapes the human rights in a great way (Gelber, 2012). Discrimination of people, which is one of the right advocated for in the civil rights, can be perpetuated by the freedom of speech depending on the way that is utilised by users. Hence, the need to limit the freedom of speech so as to achieve rights balance. This will ensure that free speech is used constructively to benefit all the parties. For instance, some symbols of communication or descriptions can be affecting people in many different ways. For example for some people basing on freedom of speech, may indulge in uttering words that may instigate hatred among other people. Others may use simples that have some form of significance with the aim of harming others in the process. Therefore, there should be limitations on the freedom of speech so that there can be maximum attainment of the civil rights. The limitation can be used to ensure that the human rights are achieved optimally. To protect young children from the harsh expressions, there should be limitations to ensure that they are not affected from the perceived utilised freedom of expression. Thus, there have been limitations on pornography, which may lure young children into the uncouth characters. Concisely, civil rights, calls for limitation on the freedom of speech to ensure that no one is hurt in the process (Sani, 2008). The relationship between the two concepts rights, all boil down to the correlations that exist between the freedom of speech and the civil rights. The institutions have a great effect on each other thus calling for continuous consultation between the different institutions to ensure optimal service delivery. It is of essence to ensure optimal service to the citizens. Conclusion The various concepts that have been developed over time have played a great role in shaping freedom of speech. Each concept affects the freedom of expression in different ways. They all involve interaction with people as a result all forms of communication used in the whole process have to be chosen with a lot of care to ensure that there is no any situation where there is a violation of the human rights as they stipulated in the federal constitution. Civil liberty, were developed to ensure that people are protected from larger entities that have far much more power than they do. The freedom of speech, in this context, allows people to interact freely without fear of these institutions. On the other hand, their civil rights also protect people from unnecessary discrimination as they carry on their daily lives. The interaction of these entities is very fundamental in ensuring that there are no violations of the rights expression nor misuse of these rights to harm others in the process. Concisely freedom of speech cannot be absolute, if that happens, then it means some other fundamental rights will have to be affected. Therefore, from the interactions shown with the various concepts, it has to be well regulated to obtain optimal benefits. References Asad, T. (2011). Freedom of Speech and Religious limitations. In Rethinking Secularism (pp. 282–98). Gelber, K. (2012). Political Culture, Flag Use and Freedom of Speech. Political Studies, 60, 163–179. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2011.00893.x Harris, R. (2009). Freedom of speech and philosophy of education. British Journal of Educational Studies, 57, 111–126. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8527.2009.00431.x Kersch, K. I. (2003). Freedom of speech : rights and liberties under the law. America’s freedoms (p. 395). Retrieved from \url{http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/abcclio041/2003002634.html} Sani, M. A. M. (2008). Freedom of Speech and Democracy in Malaysia. Asian Journal of Political Science. doi:10.1080/02185370801962440 Volokh, E. (2000). Freedom of Speech and Information Privacy: The Troubling Implications of a Right to Stop People From Speaking About You. Stanford Law Review, 52, 1049–1124. doi:10.2307/1229510  Read More