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The 1st Amendment Is STILL Here!



If you're reading this page/article/essay/blog or whatever you'd like to call it, chances are, you are my online contact and I sent you a link to my blog site. When we talk, you may assume I rarely discuss the positive aspects of life. Also, maybe when you read my essays, you assume I write more about the negative aspects of life, and may also conclude I focus more on negativity than positivity. If you have that belief, you're wrong. I focus on the positive more often than mostly, but the positive is very common, normal, and basic. I experience negativity much less often than the positive, but the negative has a greater effect on my emotions and possibly your emotions, which therefore makes the negative more interesting to report. Thus, if you're not a contact of mine, don't believe I'm bitter or have a problem with life. I feel great and I'm simply writing about my experiences, which leads to this instance.

While spending most of my weekend indoors, I spent each day chatting and debating with contacts, watching re-runs of Kenan & Kel on YouTube, and playing Pokemon games, when I noticed a bunch of rude comments on the web. More specifically, the comments thrived from a racial debate regarding Hispanics or 'spics,' as they so eloquently said, illegally crossing the border. Many left comments stating to "toss them back over the border." Mostly Hispanics, Whites, and Blacks responded to the racist idiots, but their words were shrugged off as 'politically correct,' as usual, and the idiots often complained of the abolishment of free speech. In another instance, I stumbled upon the channel of a girl that discussed gay marriage.

Though, the girl in the video agreed with gay marriage, many commentators disagree with rather harsh words, creating a long sexual orientation-based debate. "Oh my gosh!" I thought, wondering why nearly every page is filled with hate comments. I then remembered and thought to myself, "This is the internet and the site is 'YouTube,' a site with weak rules, so therefore, cowards that can't insult people in person gather to do so in the comment spaces of videos!" People used offensive language, such as 'faggot,' among other things.

Offended people recommended the commentators to quit using such harsh words, but it fell onto deaf ears, or in the case of the internet, blind eyes. The insulters responded with dialog similar to, "I can respond how I want! This is a free country and the 1st Amendment guarantees my right to freedom! Political correctness violates the 1st Amendment." True, the 1st Amendment does guarantee freedom. However, the 1st Amendment, or heck, even freedom, has its limits.

Consider for example, you owned a big, stylish house with expensive furniture and carpeting. Bored, you invite a few guests. While in the livingroom watching TV, a guest puts his feet on your coffee table, kicking over and shattering your expensive flower vase. Another smokes a cigarette and dumps the ashes on your expensive carpet. Another guest jumps on your other couch, while the other eats everything in your refrigerator after (s)he just wiped his or her ass without washing his or her hands. After these instances, I'll assume you'd be very upset. Hopefully, you have basic rules for your household, (which normal people naturally follow.) If one breaks those rules, you kick them out your house. In that instance, you're in control of the freedom guests have at your house.

Well, the same could be said for society, the government, state, and any website. In the case of the government, public schools, for example, have rules to ensure a safer environment. When you're a member of YouTube or Yahoo! and you get suspended for saying something disrespectful, don't be surprised. The site had rules they expected you to follow. The owners of websites aren't much different than homeowners, meaning, they can create rules for their guests and expect people to follow them. If not, they get the boot. Therefore, don't blame 'political correctness' or the group of people you've offended for your suspension or so-called 'abolishment of the 1st amendment,' blame yourself for breaking the rules on someone else's site. If you want to say offensive things, create your own site. Yet, expect controversy.

As for the 1st Amendment, it isn't abolished because it ensures you're allowed to say whatever you please in front of a police officer without risking arrest, long as it isn't verbal assault, depending on the instance. Therefore, if you wish to say something offensive to someone, tell him or her in person. Though, if you get hit in the face, blame yourself. As for people getting offended, it's natural. 'Offended' is when someone is influenced into feeling any negative emotion, whether anger, sadness, depression, disappointment, or even fear. Because our personalities and emotions are different, it's natural to be 'offended' at some point, so people can't simply 'grow a tougher skin.'

Thus, I believe society should have more consideration for other's feelings. In conclusion, when someone recommends you to avoid the use of a certain word, or when you get suspended from a website for offending others, the 1st Amendment isn't abolished. They're only recommending you to treat people respectfully, or enforcing the(ir) rules, just as you do in your house.

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