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Protecting Freedom Of Freedom Derek Bok Analysis

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In his essay, Protecting Freedom of Expression on the Campus (69 - 71), Derek Bok examines just how disruptive a confederate flag can be in a college campus as it has symbolic connections to slavery. Bok 's thesis is that such form of an expression can be offensive, however, this is not enough to prohibit such form of communication due to its First Amendment rights. Bok makes an adequate argument because he assesses the offensive nature of this act as well as the harm that is derived from censorship by mainly providing persuasive notions. Although Derek Bok makes a strong case behind his support of the First Amendment rights, the essay nevertheless conveys various weaknesses. The essay overall does a fantastic job in getting the message …show more content…
His unbiased opinions may help him uphold his thesis, however, it is what makes it confusing near the end of this essay. Near the end of the essay, Bok mentions that those who must witness the flag should just "ignore" it if possible, but then goes on to mention that the, "...the wisest course is to speak with those who perform insensitive acts and try to help them understand the effects of their actions on others" (p. 71). This statement makes this essay to be more questionable because now he is asking for everyone to be passive or act by confronting these individuals. It weakens Bok 's stance on this debate, making it harder to understand what he really wants to happen. Had he been more direct about his arguments, it would have made the ending much stronger than it is. The conclusion of the essay conveys Bok 's wanting the campus community in being resolute and giving methods to counter such an escalation to happen, but does little in referring to much of what his thesis states. Bok could have done more to improve on how he ended this essay, but he lost a bit of focus in only looking towards the remedy of the incident than the main point he was going

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