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- WRC 1013/1023: Freshman Composition: Exploring Critical Issues
WRC 1013/1023: Freshman Composition: Exploring Critical Issues
Sources for WRC 1013: Christina Frasier, Darren Meritz & Pamela Mahan
Introduction: Censorship and Democracy
The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees Americans the right to free speech, but the methods in which we speak have expanded greatly since the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution. Rather than printed pamphlets passed by hand and news spread by word of mouth, our views and opinions can spread around the globe in a matter of minutes through the internet, whether we are tweeting an opinion, blogging, or commenting in an online forum. Issues such as cyberbullying and online posting of hate speech have arisen, and there have been occasions on which the extent of our freedom of speech has been questioned.
Are there limits to free speech? What are they, and how are they determined? The sources in this section provide some views on various issues from cyberbullying to hate speech to peaceful demonstrations.
Censorship & Democracy
- Bernstein, Eli, "When is Free Speech Free?" Institute of Public Affairs
"The recent shooting at the 'Draw Mohammad' event in Texas, like the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris a few months earlier, raises important questions about where the limits of free speech should be drawn, or whether they should be drawn at all. Days after the attack, 3.7 million people marched in anti-terrorism rallies in Paris -- pencils were held up high symbolising freedom of speech. And yet, in the days following the march, 54 people were arrested in France for offensive speech." - Capuzzi Simon, Cecilia, "Fighting for Free Speech on America’s Campuses," The New York Times
"The free-speech watchdog FIRE is a familiar irritant to college administrators, but until this past year, the rest of the country wasn’t paying much attention. An “epic” year is what Greg Lukianoff, president and chief executive of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, calls it. Colleges and universities were forced to publicly and painfully deal with a confluence of national issues — race, sexual assault, gay rights, politically correct speech — mirrored and magnified in the microcosm of campus life." - Cushman, Thomas, "The Fate of Freedom of Expression in Liberal Democracies," Society
"According to Freedom Houses Annual Freedom of the Press Report, 2016, the world has experienced a sustained ten-year decline in freedom. Significantly, the number of countries showing a decline in freedom for the year was the largest since the 10-year slide began. Just 43 countries made gains. And of all the indicators of freedom, freedom of expression has suffered the most significant declines." - "Dear Internet: It’s Time to Fix This Mess You Made," Wired
An open letter from Wired staff that addresses the prolific use of internet speech and the democratization of information as a tool to victimize others. - Friedersdorf, Conor, "The Glaring Evidence That Free Speech Is Threatened on Campus," The Atlantic
"A debate at Yale highlighted the disconnect between those who would downplay the problem, and the growing mass of evidence that they’re wrong." - McGough, Michael, "Sorry, Kids, the 1st Amendment Does Protect ‘Hate Speech’," Los Angeles Times
"When the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper at Williams College recanted an editorial that had suggested that “some speech is too harmful to invite to campus,” she added this qualification: “Students should not face restrictions in terms of the speakers they bring to campus, provided of course that these speakers do not participate in forms of legally recognized hate speech.” The problem is that there is no such thing." - Mullin, Jow, "Melania Trump Picks Her Cause If She’s First Lady: Cyberbullying," Ars Technica
"The wife of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump made a rare campaign speech in Pennsylvania. At the speech's end, Melania Trump told the crowd what will be her cause should she win the privilege to be First Lady: cyberbullying." - Paxson, Christina, "Brown University president: A safe space for freedom of expression," The Washington Post
"New students are entering colleges and universities at a time of fierce debate about whether institutions of higher education are becoming places that stifle speech in the interest of protecting students from ideas and perspectives they don’t want to hear. In the clash over freedom of expression and the supposed coddling of American college students, safe spaces and trigger warnings are held up as the poster children of overprotective universities."
- “Free Speech Is Threatened on Campus.” IQ2US Debates, 13 May 2016, http://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/free-speech-threatened-campus.
Debate over free speech issues on campuses and universities.