Freedom of Speech and Damage to The Society - Essay Example

 Freedom of Speech is One Thing, But When It is Damaging to Society, Something Can and Must be Done One of the qualifications to a democratic country is the freedom of speech (Janda, Berry & Goldman, 1992), allowing the citizens to be heard. The First Amendment of the constitution caters to this right granting the people the right to say whatever they wish to. However, like any other rights, the freedom of speech has its limitations especially when it comes to going beyond the norms. Slander, or the act of spreading false statements (Berkin & Wood, 1983) is not supported by the First Amendment, therefore, would be punishable by law.

In considering the making of the constitution, the rights of the government as well as individual rights have been well thought of so that there could be a balance in responding to the needs of both the state and its citizens. In the event of such an attempt, it was proven to be a wise judgment for the constitution to have been designed as such because truly, people are not an easy species to control their acts. Going beyond what is granted in the constitution to the extent of damaging the society or even just an individual, something must be done in proportion to the damage made.

Aaron Larson (August, 2003) said well about slander or defamation, that though greatly damaging, they prove to be a challenge in winning such a case, not to mention the insignificant amount of money paid in retribution to such actions. In addition, to a person who values self-respect much, winning a case of defamation would not surmount the opinions already made in the minds of friends and associates which then can lead to mental agony and socialization problems as the above mentioned author said, litigations are not always attended by the very same persons who have known the damaging accusations to a person.

Indeed, the First Amendment must go beyond what has been considered and not limit itself to protecting but also clarifying information about a person in slander cases. References Janda, Kenneth, Jeffrey M. Berry and Jerry Goldman. 1992. The Challenge of Democracy: Government in America (3rd Edition). Illinois, USA: Houghton Mifflin Company. Berkin, Carol and Leonard Wood. 1983. Land of Promise: A History of the United States. Palo, Alto, California: Scott, Foresman and Company.