When is the Limit

Madison Mintz
Bill of Rights Essay

Humanities
Final Draft

In a democracy people has freedom of speech, but sometimes

people think there should be a limit. Free speech has its limits when it
threatens violence and instability in society. When chaos is likely to ensue
there are limits, but it also depends on what the person says. Hate speech
test the limits of free speech and whether the speech is cultural or political
should be considered.
In class, we watch a case about a man who went in front of a
temple, put a Nazi armband on, and was lecturing on how we should get
rid of all of people who are Jewish. Local people started disagreeing and
eventually it became violent. We were discussing on which person is
innocent. On one hand the man was lecturing in front of a temple about a
topic that most people wouldnt like. Some people might say he was acting
for trouble. On the other hand the people were the one who started the
violence and they stopped to listen. They could have just kept on walking.
This is why we go to court, we see each peoples side of view, then decide
based on what they said.
Our opinion also depends on how we think on how far the limit goes
to freedom of speech. Leo Mckern once said, It is easy to believe in
freedom of speech for those with whom we agree. I think that is true. I say
that because our opinion is a big part of what we believe. The quote says
that if we believe in a topic that a person is talking about then we think that
they should keep talking, but other people who dont like that topic we
would want that person to stop talking and to make sure that there is a
limit. In all, I think this subject is mainly about opinion.
Freedom of speech can come in many forms, for example a t-shirt
could be a symbol of freedom of speech. It is called cultural freedom.
Some people think that something as simple as a t-shirt couldnt be call as
an example of freedom of speech, but it is. It shows your opinion without
having to say any words. It can show what your personality is like. At
schools there can restrictions to what you can wear and sometimes people
dont like that because they have a right to freedom of speech. We played
a game in class where a boy wore a shirt that had a band on it and there
was a rule at his school that you cant wear that. The school and the boy
went to court to see if the boy could actually wear that shirt. The
defendants argue was that the First Amendment (freedom of speech)
allowed the boy to wear the shirt at school. The school disagreed because
when people wore band shirts some of them would cause argues and
eventually violence. The shirt that the boy was wearing was not causing

any harm, so I thought that he should be allowed to wear it because of the

first amendment.
In conclusion, freedom of speech should be limited when there
becomes violence or something invades another persons privacy. Limits
on freedom of speech is also based on opinion because other people
might think differently when the limit of freedom of speech is. The quote
said that people agree with the people whose have the same views and if
they dont then they wont agree to their terms. Freedom of speech does
come from many forms and must be valued to keep democracy alive.