Recent orders
“Free Speech Can Be Messy, But We Need It’
“Free Speech Can Be Messy, But We Need It’
By Lee Rowland, ACLU attorney
Edited version of a speech delivered on February 13, 2018
Summary Outline
TOPIC: What is the source about? (Write one or two words here.)
THESIS: What is the writer’s overall point about the topic? (Write a full sentence here.)
SUPPORTING IDEAS:
Please review the source, and state the supporting ideas that you find in the numbered list below. There may be more numbers than you need, or you may need to add numbers.
Remember that you are focusing on ideas, not stories, examples, statistics, etc. (Write each supporting idea in full sentences.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
“Free Speech Can Be Messy, But We Need It’
By Lee Rowland, ACLU attorney
Edited version of a speech delivered on February 13, 2018
42734983549180-102020354918 Text Annotations
0 Text Annotations
Annotations
7100888369570
The year 2017 was a hell of a year for the First Amendment. Nowhere was more central to this culture war than the campuses of universities across America — including right here at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Two students found themselves embroiled in the biggest free speech controversies of recent years. Peter Cytanovic became the face of white nationalism when a picture of him snarling, holding a tiki torch at the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville went viral. On the opposite end of the political spectrum, graduate Colin Kaepernick went on to the NFL and used his position to highlight police brutality and racial injustice by taking a knee during the national anthem. Both men became incredibly controversial for their speech. There were calls and campaigns for them to be expelled for their opinions.
But regardless of whether you agree with one of them, both of them, or neither, the First Amendment protects both of those men and their opinions from censorship and retaliation by the government.
That’s a good thing. Let me tell you why.
It’s becoming more common to call for lower legal protections for speech — specifically, that we should criminalize “hate speech.” I hear this from the left a lot. I think many on the left would love a world where Mr. Kaepernick could take a knee without any worry the government would force the NFL to fire him, but where a government school would still have the power to expel Mr. Cytanovic. This is a dangerous proposition.
I’m a progressive. It’s not hard for meto choose between white nationalism and racial justice. The first is abhorrent and racist. The other is a demand for equal rights. But what if we gave the government the power to decide which of those men was too hateful to speak? Look at our current president — he called Charlottesville marchers “very fine people,” while reserving his ire for Black NFL players, whom he called “sons of bitches.” Your idea of “hate speech” may not be the government’s idea of “hate speech.” I know mine isn’t. But even if you agree with Trump — are you sure our next president will agree with your worldview? You shouldn’t be.
That’s why I’m a true believer in the First Amendment. I am an anti-authoritarian. And I know that the government has historically wielded its raw power to silence those who speak truth to power. And because I want students everywhere to be able to take a knee without fear of government censorship, I know we have to cherish our robust First Amendment — even for speech that is hateful.
But even though I’m a free speech attorney, I find many of the common tropes and myths about free speech unsatisfying. I’m going to explain why I’m a true believer by debunking three of these common myths, and, in the process, hopefully reveal three practical tips for exercising your free speech rights powerfully and strategically.
Let’s start with one myth we all learned in kindergarten:
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
Does anyone as an adult actually believe this? It’s manifestly untrue. I’m a free speech attorney precisely because I believe that words matter. We cannot protect free speech by denying its power.
So why on earth do we teach this obvious lie to kids? Because humans can be vicious. And when kids are at the receiving end of taunts, we want them empowered, not diminished, in the face of that injustice.
In February, notorious troll Milo Yiannopoulos had a planned speech at the University of California, Berkeley. Students and others in the community went nuts. There were protests. There were riots. Things were set on fire. The administration canceled his talk.
In April, there was a repeat — except this time it was Ann Coulter. She was going to speak, school officials said there would be riots, and they canceled her talk. Both of these individuals then spent 2017 identifying as victims of liberal censorship. And my god the media ate it up — they got more attention for being silenced than they did for trying to peddle actual substantive views.
A goal of professional provocateurs is to provoke the campus community into trying to silence them. Think of campus trolls as schoolyard bullies. Oh, their words definitely hurt. But the real question is: How do we respond to that hurt? A troll wants you to censor them. It feeds into their power and gives them something to sell. You don’t have to play that role.
Yes, there is power in hateful words. But there is also power in sass — in unwillingness to be goaded into a fight or to play the role of censor.
But not all words wound in the same way. That brings us to our second myth:
Hate speech isn’t protected by the First Amendment.
I often hear younger people say that hate speech isn’t protected by the First Amendment. But that’s untrue. As President Trump’s views of Mr. Kaepernick should make plain, “hate speech” is a flexible concept. Just this week, the Spanish government arrested and charged a man with “hate speech” for calling cops “slackers” on Facebook. That’s what criticizing the government looks like without a First Amendment. “Hate speech” can easily be redefined as speech that threatens the state.
But we shouldn’t only protect speech out of paranoia — there’s an upshot here, too. Our history shows the same First Amendment that protects hateful, racist speech can be and has been used by civil rights advocates to protect historically vulnerable communities.
Charles Brandenburg was an avowed racist convicted of “incitement to violence” for holding an Ohio Ku Klux Klan rally in the late 1960s. The KKK’s lawyers took it all the way up to the Supreme Court, arguing his hateful ideas were protected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court agreed with Brandenburg that his vicious, genocidal talk about Jews and Black people was constitutionally protected because it only fantasized about future violence. The court decided that before the government can punish speech, there has to be an immediate and specific riskof actual violence to a real person.
In a vacuum, that result might upset you. But at around the same time, NAACP leader and civil rights icon Charles Evers gave a passionate speech advocating a boycott of racist, white-owned businesses. He promised that he’d “break the damn neck” of any activist who broke the boycott. White business owners sued Evers and the NAACP for — you guessed it — “incitement,” arguing that his violent language had led to riots. But the NAACP looked to that Brandenberg case. Those civil rights leaders appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, to be sure that Mr. Evers benefitted from the same rights as a KKK member. And they succeeded.
The court boiled it down to this question: Are we talking about theoretical future violence, or is there an immediate risk of harm to a real person? And while there is nothing equivalent about the KKK and the NAACP, from that point of view, these cases looked the same.
There is reason to be skeptical that the rights extended to a KKK member will actually trickle down to someone like an NAACP leader. The hard truth is that every right in our society first gets distributed to the privileged and powerful. Americans did not get the right to vote at the same time regardless of sex or race. Today, your rights during an arrest — or your right to carry a gun — do not look the same for all races.
But would you say the answer to that uneven distribution of rights is to eliminate the very constitutional protections that enable us to fight the government when it violates them? No. Distributing our constitutional rights equally is a process. The First Amendment is no different.
It’s our job to ensure that everyone benefits from the same level of constitutional protection, that our free speech rights are truly “indivisible.” Our First Amendment is necessary to ensure that those who challenge the government are not silenced — but that’s not sufficient to ensure justice. We have to do the rest of the work.
So, are today’s students up for it? That brings us to our third and final myth:
Students today are snowflakes.
Public schools and universities are governed by the First Amendment. That means they can’t just keep hateful people off campus because of their views. That means Black and Jewish students have had to face white supremacists on campus; immigrant students have been demonized; women have had to endure campus speakers calling feminism a cancer. I guarantee you that most adults don’t have to pass by a group of people calling for their extermination on their walk into work. I don’t think students are snowflakes. I think you’re badasses.
When I tell you trying to silence or censor political enemies is wrong, it’s not because I think it’s weak. It’s because I think it’s unstrategic and strengthens the force of your opponents. But if silencing hateful speech isn’t an option, what does it look like to be empowered in the face of hate?
Learn more about Students’ Free Speech Rights
Sometimes the answer will be in your numbers. In August 2017, a group of alt-right protesters planned a gathering at Boston Common, labelling it the “Free Speech Rally.” Only dozens of the permit holders showed up. But ringing the Common were 40,000 people standing strong against racism. That huge counter-protest sent a powerful message of resistance: a blizzard of snowflakes. And it made clear the foolishness of one group trying to own the brand of “free speech.”
Sometimes all it takes is a single person to make a powerful statement. A few years ago, a musician, appalled by a KKK rally in his hometown of Charleston, didn’t bother to try to refute the racist ideas — he just followed them around with a sousaphone, loudly oompah-oompahing along. His message of protest was clear — without a single word.The marchers disbanded in short order when forced to peddle their message of hate over a goofy tuba line.
I believe in the First Amendment because it is our most powerful tool to keep the government from regulating the conversations that spark change in the world. If you want to keep having conversations that can change the world, you should embrace the First Amendment too — messiness and all.
I hope unpacking these myths has helped reveal some truths about how we can strategically exercise our powerful First Amendment rights:
Know your history. Know that the same high-water mark that hasprotected the most vile and hateful speakers has also protected civil rights and anti-war advocates.
Don’t silence your way out of a debate. Remember that a provocateur wants you to play censor. If you know that a speaker you disagree with — or one you believe is dangerous — is coming to your campus, remember how counterproductive silencing tactics can be.
Dance to your own tune. You can decide when to counter-protest, when to stage an alternative event, and when to ignore ideas unworthy of debate. The very choices you make for confronting — or ignoring — speech you abhor can become benchmarks for how you handle conflict throughout your life.
Please provide at least five substantive annotations.
-63817104140
How One flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kessey is directly connected to the 60s rebellion and the summer of love.
(Name)
(Instructors’ name)
(Course)
(Date)
60s Rebellion and The Summer of Love
The 1960s were characterized by a social event known as the summer of love, which consisted of people taking part in various rebellious activities. These rebellions were both cultural and political, and everyone was set out to define themselves as a unique and separate individual in society (Anderson 3). Accordingly, creative artists were not left out in this phase of rebellious expression, and they each created pieces of work that reflected their rebellious thoughts and attitudes. The summer of love was considered the most important social experiments in history, as it was the period when individuals took up unusual lifestyles, more specifically, communal living, and free love. Specifically, the summer of love was characterized by creative expression, sexual and political freedom among other things.
Individuals at that time believed that the society had become so dictatorial and bossy, that there was no room left for self-expression. Instead of the society and the authorities bringing out the best in its people, it destroyed their sense of worth and individuality. This, in turn, prompted the need for rebellions so that individuals can attain the freedom that they required to live in their societies. Additionally, women rebelled from society’s perception about their sexuality, and they demanded more recognition in society just as their male counterparts. During this time, women fancied sexual expression, and they felt that the society had constantly oppressed them by restricting how they acted in the society. Essentially, the rebellion was a platform for women to make their demands, which they acquired immediately after. With this, the society saw the introduction of new ways of living in the society, as well as, the creation of public awareness on the importance of individuality in a highly communal society. Though the summer of love was credited for encouraging individuality and expression, research studies have shown that it was responsible for a considerable amount of violence experienced in history (Gitlin 18). Because individuals were intent on expressing their individual thoughts and perceptions, they tended to use violence to assert themselves, which in turn led to the destruction of plenty of lives. Relevantly, one such creative artist whose work has been linked with the summer of love is Ken Kessey and American philosophical and political author. More specifically, his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, depicts some of the events that took place during the summer of love and the 60s rebellion. In this novel, the author provides an analysis of the human mind, as well as, human behavior and principles. With the narrative set at an asylum, the author critically analyses the behavior of human beings in relation to individuality and personal expression. The author uses each of his characters to communicate his message regarding human thought and behavior, thus providing a link between the book and the concepts of the summer of love.
This paper presents a critical analysis of the novel, One flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kessey. The paper explains how this novel is directly connected to the 60s rebellion and the summer of love.
Analysis
As previously mentioned, the novel, One flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has been linked to the 60s rebellion and the summer of love. This is because the novel conveys the same ideas as were existent in the events that took place during the 60s rebellion and the summer of love. At the outset, the novel is set at an asylum, which after a critical analysis, resembles the society in one way or another. The author’s depiction of the asylum was as an institution of oppression, where all the patients in the institutions experienced cruelty from those in authority (Roach 457). In his novel, Kessey brings out the asylum as an institution of instilling discipline in patients, thus giving the impression that one these people leave the institution, they will be better people (Roach 457). This is clearly illustrated in the novel in the statement, “Yes. This is what I know. The ward is a factory for the Combine. It’s for fixing up mistakes made in the neighborhoods and in the schools and in the churches, the hospital is. When a completed product goes back out into society, all fixed up good as new, better than new sometimes, it brings joy to the Big Nurse’s heart…” (Kessey 40). However, a closer examination of this reveals that, the asylum does more harm than good to its patients, making them far much worse off than they were when joining the institution. Kessey’s novel also examines the theme of sexuality, which represents the events that took place during the summer of love, as well as, their consequences. Women in the novel are in search of sexual freedom and the author uses the male characters to bring out the idea of sexual expression by women. The men in the novel have lost their masculinity to women, which are seen as a consequence of allowing women to express themselves sexually. This can be interpreted as one of consequences of allowing the freedom of sexual expression by women, thus, relating to the consequences of the 1960s rebellion and the summer of love.
In essence, the author utilizes imagery to represent the events that took place during the 1960s rebellion, and the summer of love. The members of staff, as well as, the equipment used in the asylum represent the different scientific and political mechanisms that society exploits to gain control over the people living in that particular society (Roach 458). By doing this, the author allows the readers to understand the link between his message in the novel, and the events that took place during the 1960s rebellion and the summer of love. The communities at the time felt that they were under oppression from the authorities as the authorities dictated what how people would behave and think. For that reason, individuals expressed themselves as a community, as opposed to, their individuality hence the sudden rebellions that took place during this time. Just like in Kessey’s novel, individuals living in the 1960s felt the need to free themselves from this social control, so as to express themselves accordingly in the society. This further illustrates the link between the novel and the rebellions that took place during the summer of love. Another way that Kessey’s novel can be linked with the 60s rebellion and the summer of love, is in the theme of expression of sexuality and the emasculation of men in society. Just like in the rebellions, women in the novel assert their sexuality accordingly, and they use their sexuality to attain their needs and desires (Horst 15).
Work cited
Anderson, T. The Movement and the Sixties: Protest in America from Greensboro to Wounded
Knee. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. Print.
Gitlin, T. The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage. New York: John Willey, 1993. Print.
Horst, L. Bitches, Twitches, and Eunuchs: Sex Role Failure and Caricature in Pratt, J, One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Text and Criticism. New York: Penguin Books, 1996. Print.
Kessey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. USA: Viking Press, 1962. Print.
Roach, Jason O. Review: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. British Medical Journal, 321.7258
(2000): 457-459.
how news reporting has changed with advent of the internet and converging media
Social Media
Name:
Professor
Institution
Course:
Date:
Journalism in the Digital Age
The United States press has for a long time in history evolved in terms of openness and freedom. Society has been affected tremendously, due to the interne also, in news reporting. Through the internet, it is now possible for news to be reported immediately as well as information sharing taking place. The mentioned two dynamics can be combined with various technologies that can be used by the news industry. Furthermore, a significant transformation in news reporting has been witnessed all over the world. In turn, societies have benefited due to sharing of information, and there have also been set backs in the process (Goessi, 2011).
Journalists are now satisfied with the internet as it has brought about increased publishing speeds. News reporters can instantly have the news displayed on web pages without having to wait for long hours to print their stories. People are now able to watch real time news as it unfolds on the internet. Before the internet existed, there were limited times when people could access the news (Krotoski, 2011). This was at night, evening, mid day and in the early morning. Fortunately, that is all in the past as people can access the news from various websites. Also, the journalism industry is trying as much as it can to respond to customers requests by providing information.
In the year, 2010, a survey was conducted by the CBS news and it involved around 1800 users of the internet. They ranged between the ages of 25 years to 64 years. According to the findings of the survey, 71percent of them viewed the news on the web as compared to buying newspapers. On the other hand, 44 percent of them spent their time online watching television. It is assumed that the latter also watched news shows online (Goessi, 2011). The provided statistics prove that the internet is extremely vital, as compared to traditional methods of displaying news. Also, it shows that journalists are readily becoming in sync with technology progression. As a result of the internet being used in journalism, news reporting has benefited from added features. It should be known that images and texts are the prime components of newspapers. Through reporting news via the internet, it is possible to have features such as slide shows, color photos and video, among others. Furthermore, it is possible for comments to be left by the readers on the internet news. Stories can also be supplemented by having various contents added to their sites, and example is through twitter. A story can be effectively augmented in many ways by news writers and reporters.
The converging media is responsible for changing how news reporting occurs. Currently, the news focuses on specific areas such as politics and entertainment among others. Boundaries in news reporting have been broken down by the internet, as the consumer and the reporters can now communicate. For example, in some news sites, the services of bloggers are highly evident. They assist the reporters with crucial information, and this is possible due to interaction that is allowed by the internet (Kunke & Gene, 2001). The game and standards of news reporting have been raised significantly. At the end of most news reports, readers have an opportunity to post their comments and this enhances accountability. A lot needs to be done by owners of the media by embracing the internet.
Reverences
Kunke, Thomas, & Gene, Roberts. (2001). “The Age of Corporate Newspapering: Leaving Readers Behind.” American Journalism Review, 32. Krotoski, Aleks. (2011). What effect has the internet had on journalism. The Guardian. Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/feb/20/what-effect-internet-on-journalism” http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/feb/20/what-effect-internet-on-journalism
Goessi, Leigh. (2011). How the Internet has affected news reporting. Helium. Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.helium.com/items/2207200-how-the-internet-has-affected-news-reporting” http://www.helium.com/items/2207200-how-the-internet-has-affected-news-reporting