2305+-+Freedom+of+Speech

Power Points



Description:

This section touches on a major component of individual liberty, the ability to be able to freely express one's thoughts - especially political thoughts. This is closely related to an unstated liberty: the ability to hold whatever thoughts one chooses, even if these are not thoughts supported by government or the mainstream.

Freedom of speech is argued by some to be the primary freedom because all the rest spring from it. But it is a tenuous freedom because speech can sometimes leads to actions that are contrary to the rights of others. We wil explore that tension in this section and also look at how speech leads to opinion and how we go about measuring and influencing public opinion.

Goals: After reading through the material above, you should be able to address the following:

- Why is free speech considered to be an essential feature of democracies? - Can democracies pose problems for free speech? How? - Be familiar with the definition of "speech." What types of activities qualify as "speech acconrding to the Supreme Court. - What legitimate restrictions can be placed on speech? What justifies these restrictions? What court cases help us clarify these restrictions? - How have governments historically attempted to restrict speech? Why? - How did the freedom of speech emerge over history? How can free speech be traced over the course of history? - Be familiar with text that has supported free speech over time. - Why might a society be advantaged by not censoring speech? - What is the marketplace of ideas? - What is public opinion? How is it measured? What role does it play in a democracy? - What have public opinion surveys told us about the opinions of the American public? - Where is there agreement and disagreement? - Know basic facts about how public opinion polls are conducted? - What does research tell us about how people form opinions? What factors influence the opinion making process?