Freedom of Speech

        Tera Erives

Charles Cummings

Intro to Ethics

7/11/2016

What You Can’t Say

When people become passionate about something or take up a cause, there can be a tendency for emotions to run high. There is a reason for the term “activist.” That reason lies in the nature of how people behave when they are fighting for something they believe in. Activist is defined by Webster’s online dictionary as “one who is aggressively active on behalf of a cause.” But where do we draw the line between aggressive activism and hate speech? Currently, there is no line. We, as citizens of the United States of America, are protected by the First Amendment and its inalienable right, that is granted to all Americans, allowing us Freedom of Speech. Could that right or does that right need to change? Should we be allowed to spew obscenities, bigotry, hate, and lewdness to and at our fellow man? Or are all of these terms completely subjective? Who is to say what is obscene? Who is to say what is violent? Who is to say what “hate speech?” is? And is it a crime? Who is to say what you can and can’t say?

The leader of the New Black Panther Party, Shamir Shabazz, is showcased in multiple YouTube videos displaying violent verbal behavior. In one he is videotaped outside of a polling venue in Philadelphia, carrying a Billy club, in what appears to be an effort to intimidate voters. In another clip he is shouting at people walking by, at what is presumably an outside market of some kind, that “white people must be killed, white babies must be killed.

This type of speech is stomach turning to watch. This entry is not to address the issue of race, but regardless of that the fact still stands, killing innocent people, based solely on the color of their skin, will never be okay. It is not a subjective consensus in any way, shape or form. But should he be allowed, by law, to express his beliefs verbally? What good would come from censoring his shocking speeches and behavior? Confucius said, when asked by Chi K’ang Tzu asked: “How can I make the people reverent and loyal, so they will work positively for me?”… “Approach them with dignity, and they will be reverent. Be filial and compassionate and they will be loyal. Promote the able and teach the incompetent, and they will work positively for you.”