Free Speech is a principle that allowing opposing viewpoints is the cornerstone of political discourse and a functioning democracy. Only through discussion, debate, and argument, do we avoid what all governments are designed to avoid - violence.
The 1st Amendment is a Law that is meant to protect the people from restrictions on freedom of speech from the government. It if not the totality of the idea.
In the same way that the government regulations on clothing imports are not a national dress code.
The dangerous territory we have recently waded into is that the younger voters are so emotionally tied to their political ideas within their bubble that they cannot stand to hear discussions that do not agree with their existing world view - and are happy to see violence used to silence dissent.
It is the principle of Freedom of Speech that is under attack - not the 1st Amendment.
Well of course in addition to free speech the 1st amendment includes other rights such as freedom of religion (Separation of church and state), freedom of the press, right to assemble and right to petition the government for grievances. In its plain wording “the government shall make no law...prohibiting free speech...” but people get hung up on that when we know government can in fact pass all sorts of laws that limit free speech and in my experience I can get even the most die hard “absolutists” To agree certain speech should be illegal (this typically stems from the fact people don’t understand what “speech” is from a legal context).
I stand by what I said, people should read the case law.
While you say the danger is young people being emotional in their bubble, I think you will find every generation says something similar about the next generation.
Why I encourage people to read the case law is because it provides historical context for these rights and how the law is actually applied. I think one of the biggest dangers, is failure to educate ourselves especially learn our own history (history of our laws or otherwise). The point of studying history is so we can hopefully avoid the mistakes of our past...yet as history suggests we will continue to neglect history and make the exact same mistakes.
Free Speech is a principle that allowing opposing viewpoints is the cornerstone of political discourse and a functioning democracy. Only through discussion, debate, and argument, do we avoid what all governments are designed to avoid - violence.
The 1st Amendment is a Law that is meant to protect the people from restrictions on freedom of speech from the government. It if not the totality of the idea.
In the same way that the government regulations on clothing imports are not a national dress code.
The dangerous territory we have recently waded into is that the younger voters are so emotionally tied to their political ideas within their bubble that they cannot stand to hear discussions that do not agree with their existing world view - and are happy to see violence used to silence dissent.
It is the principle of Freedom of Speech that is under attack - not the 1st Amendment.