The Right to Not Be Offended Throughout recent years, the American right to freedom of speech has come under scrutiny from people of different demographics, religious beliefs, and political ideologies. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” According to freeexistence.org, America is 68th in the freedom of speech and religion. It is becoming increasingly difficult to state an opinion or facts without immediately being attacked by people who are “offended” by the statement.
A now common practice in school systems is to tap dance around certain topics in teaching and in sports activities. An article …show more content…
It seems that in today’s culture, the 1st amendment’s “freedom of speech” is misunderstood. Many citizens believe that a person’s right to freedom of speech stops as soon as they disagree or become offended. As a free country citizens see the growing need for political correctness in everything they do. This urge to be politically correct has gotten to the point of censorship and walking on thin ice for most hot topics. After the recent leak of the CIA’s interrogation reports the word “torture” has been replaced with “enhanced interrogation.” The Wikipedia article about the reports had the word “torture” taken out of it and replaced by “enhanced interrogation” by a computer with an address in Capitol Hill. Is water boarding torture? Was the CIA trying to take the path of least resistance by relabeling tactics? Does this relabeling change the tactics, or simply make them more palatable to the public’s sensitivities? Can we call a spade a spade without being deemed racist, misogynist, ignorant, moronic, and close minded? The answer is muddied by 21st century political
A now common practice in school systems is to tap dance around certain topics in teaching and in sports activities. An article …show more content…
It seems that in today’s culture, the 1st amendment’s “freedom of speech” is misunderstood. Many citizens believe that a person’s right to freedom of speech stops as soon as they disagree or become offended. As a free country citizens see the growing need for political correctness in everything they do. This urge to be politically correct has gotten to the point of censorship and walking on thin ice for most hot topics. After the recent leak of the CIA’s interrogation reports the word “torture” has been replaced with “enhanced interrogation.” The Wikipedia article about the reports had the word “torture” taken out of it and replaced by “enhanced interrogation” by a computer with an address in Capitol Hill. Is water boarding torture? Was the CIA trying to take the path of least resistance by relabeling tactics? Does this relabeling change the tactics, or simply make them more palatable to the public’s sensitivities? Can we call a spade a spade without being deemed racist, misogynist, ignorant, moronic, and close minded? The answer is muddied by 21st century political