To be completely honest, I didn’t know what to think of this assignment. My initial thoughts were, “Uhhh … Wow, I really don’t know anything about the first amendment.” Aside from the parts that basically everyone knows which are freedom of speech and freedom of press. I wrote in my paper that after reading the textbook I felt I had a much better understanding of the first amendment and all of its rules and exceptions. But still a very basic understanding. During our discussion on the topic in class, someone said something along the lines of us, as Americans, taking for granted our freedom of speech while people in other countries would be thrown in jail for doing and saying some of the things we do. I thought about this for a while and came to this conclusion: we, as Americans, are allowed to take this freedom for granted. I am not saying this to be arrogant or ignorant in anyway. I promise you I am far from either of those. I came to this conclusion because I realized that it is our RIGHT to be able to take this freedom for granted. It is in written in the constitution of our country and has been there for hundreds of years. Therefore, it is the only way of life that past generations have known and will continue to know, as I highly doubt the government will decide to change it anytime soon. In other countries, this sort of freedom would be considered a privilege. It is unfortunate that some countries are refused this right. All of that being said, I am still grateful for living in America and having these rights and freedoms that allow us to speak our mind freely (for the most part) without the worry of anyone telling us what we can and cannot say (with shades of gray).
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html
