Freedom of Speech Debate Guide
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Contents |
Flag desecration
In the last decade or so Congress has attempted to pass new legislature criminalizing the act of desecrating an American Flag. This bill has passed the house 5 times, but remains rejected by the senate.
- Should a country protect its dissenter’s right to dissent? Or more specifically, why should/should not the United States provide the opportunity for pledging anti-American sentiment?
- The house has repeatedly passed this bill. Post 9-11 sentiment fostered encouragement that the senate might finally ratify as well. Should Congress take advantage of a situation like 9-11 to push through legislature? What are other examples where the government has seized opportunities similar to this? Should these acts be criticized or is the government ultimately acting in the best interests of its people?
Academic freedom
The right of academics to research and publish without censorship or interference so long as they maintain that their opinions are strictly their own, and not necessarily that of the institution.
- In 2005 Professor Joshua Hochschild was fired from Wheaton College, a private Protestant theological institution, for converting to Catholicism. Did Wheaton College legally have the right to do this? What if Wheaton were a public learning institution? [Note: Hochschild agreed that he should leave, and left with out any legal battle.]
- In 2001 Professor Ward Churchill published a controversial essay regarding the events of September 11. The essay went virtually unnoticed until 2005 when Churchill was invited to speak at a university in New York. Churchill underwent intensive scrutiny that initiated charges of academic fraud, plagiarism, and false ethnic representation. The University of Colorado Boulder is currently investigating the charges, but has released a statement saying that Churchill is protected under academic freedom of speech. Colorado governor Bill Owens and the Colorado House of Representatives publicly requested Churchill’s dismissal. Funding for the Ethnic Studies Department (Churchill resigned as chair) has also been discussed. Is this fair? Should Churchill be fired? Can he be fired for events unrelated to this incident, but emerged as by-product of the witch hunt? Should professors be able to preach absolutely anything? What about tenure?
NSA wiretapping
The NSA is conducting a comprehensive program to data-mine from millions of international electronic communications between suspected overseas terrorists and persons on U.S. soil.
- Should the NSA be analyzing communications between such overseas individuals and their domestic counterparts? Why or why not?
- Data-mining is the cross-analysis of countless unrelated date records for specified patterns or markers. An example is the analysis by Wal-Mart of its millions of customers for shopping trends. The administration asserts that it is virtually impossible to get FISA court approval, even 72 hours after the fact, due to the vast number of records searched. Do you buy this argument?
- What strategy would you use to conduct surveillance on suspected Al Qaeda operatives?
- What are the implications of the government spying on its citizens with warrantless searches? Should this ever be allowed?
Religious criticism
Christians have endured Piss Christ and the Virgin Mary sculpted from cow dung, Jews have endured state-owned institutions depicting them drinking the blood of Muslim babies, and Muslims have endured editorial cartoons allegating that Islam can foster violent acts. Yesterday, hundreds of Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad tried to storm the U.S. Embassy, smashing the windows of a guard post but failing to push through the gates. Pakistani Muslims protesting in the southern city of Sukkur ransacked and burned a church Sunday after hearing accusations that a Christian man had burned pages of the Quran, Islam's holy book. That incident came a day after Muslims protesting in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri attacked Christians and burned 15 churches in a three-hour rampage that killed at least 15 people. Some 30 other people have died during protests over the cartoons that erupted about three weeks ago. In Jakarta, about 400 people marched to the heavily fortified U.S. mission in the center of the city, behind a banner reading "We are ready to attack the enemies of the Prophet."
- What are the limits of free speech regarding religious sensitivities?
- Should the Danish government apologize for the actions of its independent press?
- The landmark case defining the free exercise of religion in the United States, Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940), was all about the right of one faith to offend another. "In the realm of religious faith, and in that of political belief, sharp differences arise. In both fields the tenets of one man may seem the rankest error to his neighbor. To persuade others to his own point of view, the pleader, as we know, at times, resorts to exaggeration, to vilification... But the people of this nation have ordained in the light of history, that, in spite of the probability of excesses and abuses, these liberties are, in the long view, essential to enlightened opinion and right conduct on the part of citizens of a democracy." Do you agree or disagree? What are the implications with respect to today’s current events?
- The New York Times has no intention of printing the Danish cartoons because it is the paper’s policy to avoid “gratuitous assaults on religious symbols.” The NYT states that “the cartoons are so easy to describe in words.” Has the NYT maintained a consistent policy?
Limiting freedom of speech stems from freedom of speech
- Should a pluralistic democracy be receptive to followers of a non pluralistic democratic doctrine?
- Should it be Fundamentally against the prinicple founding law of a democracy to speak against democratic prinicples?
- Should it be considered undemocratic and thus against the law to paass a vote in parlament against the very existence of parlament? (like Hitler did)
