In America, we are allowed to freely express ourselves without the possibility and fear of being executed or imprisoned. But are we really allowed to do that and have everything just be fine? Yes, it says so right in the Constitution, but in all honesty, that document is in dire need for an update! After all, it's over 200 years old!
I'll use a group of people for an example: transvestites. They express themselves by being who they really are and get ostracized for it. America is all about freedom; it's basically our motto, yet most Americans are hypocrites. Another example: minorities and marginalized people will be threatened with their lives and discriminated against. Some may even be pushed so far to cause suicide. If you think stuff like this doesn't happen anymore, WAKE UP! It happens everyday!
The problem is that way too broad rule called the First Amendment: Freedom of Speech. Yes, I understand the meaning of it, that having this control allows for "freedom", something that most countries could ever dream for. But it's being taken advantage of more than ever. People who will discriminate against another because that person is different will say, "It's okay. I'm allowed to freely express myself. It's in the Constitution." Does this make it right? No. Does this make it ethical? Of course not. But is it allowed? Yes.
Take an incident that happened some few months ago. Does the "Jena Six" ring a bell? There was a certain tree that African-Americans were not allowed to sit under. It wasn't a written law, but everyone knew it throughout the student body. Well, some kids who were African-American decided to stand up for their own rights and sit under the tree. The next day, there were nooses hanging from said tree. But that wasn't the biggest uproar. No, the thing that got the most attention were the six African-American high schoolers who jumped the kid that had hung the nooses. Arguably the most offensive thing to the Black community was brought back, but put on the back-burner. Why? It was considered "freedom of speech" and the six kids shouldn't have stood up for what they believed in when beating up the offenders in the first place.
The point of my rant is that freedom of speech doesn't really give us any freedom at all. Instead, it just adds to all the discrimination in our country, making the hate seem acceptable in our society today.
Originally when written, the amendment gave us the ability to stand up for ourselves and our beliefs without the fear of being killed or, even, discriminated against. But we as a country, what is supposed to be the UNITED states, are abusing that right!
I'm not saying to get rid of the First Amendment altogether, but it does need to be revised somehow, some way. It's ethical to stand up for ourselves and others, freely expressing ourselves. However, that immediately becomes morally wrong when it hurts another. Letting your hate show and deeming it as just freedom of speech is not that, it's hate.
We will never get rid of discrimination, but we do have the power to make it wrong. Right now, it's considered right.
