1. The document discusses the debate around regulating freedom of speech, particularly speech that offends religious groups. While regulation could prevent violence triggered by offensive speech, it may also limit important discussion, as in Martin Luther's protests. 2. The author argues that regulations on hate speech and discrimination have been successfully implemented in many countries without limiting free expression. However, unchecked freedom of speech in the US has increased hate towards Islam and triggered international protests. 3. In conclusion, the author argues that limited regulation of speech is needed to curb hate speech and prevent terrorist threats in order to benefit security and global relations, even if it means sacrificing some individual liberty. Unregulated speech has consequences in today's interconnected world.

1. Mason Anderson
7/28/15
Fys
Free speech you say?
1. The underlying issues that are present in this article is the debate on the subject of
whether or not we should put regulations on freedom of speech.
2. When scrolling through the article I came across a quote that grabbed my attention to
help answer a part of the question. Under the part “Should religious sensibilities be
allowed to limit free expression?” there is a statement by a British journalist named
Kenan Malik. He stated “There is no free speech without the ability to offend religious
and cultural sensibilities.” This quote is a small example to push the idea of regulating the
use of freedom of speech. This is because it has truth in its saying. When reading further
into it I saw events that has happened because the use of freedom of speech has hurt
many beliefs and people have acted violently upon it. I saw a part were an anti-Islam
paper publisher barley avoided death when a bullet zoomed past his head. And in Russia
a man who spoke his opinion may be put to death! Can’t you see why regulation of
freedom of speech may be important?
3. Hold on their other me! Slow down for a sec. Sure if freedom of speech was regulated
maybe feeling wouldn’t get hurt or people wouldn’t be stabbed or shot, but have you seen
the good effects of freedom of speech? Imagine if Martin Luther hadn’t posted his
thoughts about the Catholic Church on the chapel? Cardinals and even the pope told him
to take back what he said. But he refused, and because of this there was the protestant

2. reformation. The only downside I see is that if everyone has more freedom, people who
want to hurt other people also have freedom. In the U.K during the year 2011 there was a
phone-hacking scandal evolving the British tabloid called the News of the World. This
lead too many arrests and for the United Kingdoms to examine the free writes to the
press.
4. To make this short and sweet. The debate for freedom of speech is somewhat damaging
to countries with democratic societies. This is because it challenges the rights of people
to express their opinion even though some of them are horrible opinions (ex. Anti-
vaccinators). And other countries that have used regulations on the freedom of the press
have used it against their people. These include Russia, China, North Korea, and we can’t
exclude the former Nazi Germany who heavily, and I mean heavily took the rights of
freedom of speech away from there people.
Now to your featured program.
Speech and the right to use it is a very important aspect of the American culture. It is in out
constitution where it proclaims that we have the right to say what we want when we want,
and we will have no precautions.(Balkin) But that was in the late 1770s. This is now. We
live in a world where information can travel in the matter of seconds from one part of the
world to another. (Bleich) Even though because of this knowledge can spread rapidly and the
amount of information a person can gather is almost limitless. But this also means when
someone posts something harmful to a religious group or organization, hate can travel fast. A
recent example happened in June, 2012. A trailer of a movie called the innocence of Muslims
was posted onto YouTube portraying Mahammad as blood thirsty, a homosexual, and a

3. molester. (Johnson) This had deep and hard repercussions from the whole Islamic world.
Riots and anti-American protests accrued after the trailer was released. This is because over
the course of time it has become riskier to express hate or opinion cause were in a county
with multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-faith in every part excluding no one. In everywhere
but America there have been multiple laws past that stops the discrimination of races. In the
European Union they have passed laws that stop the use of hate towered any ethnic group or
religion. (Greenblat) And even with that the people of Europe still have the right to express
their opinion on any subject as long as it doesn’t hurt any pacific group of people. (Bleich)
Now to further tell you the reason why we should put regulations on the speech is because of
the internet and what the government can do with it. I know many complain that they don’t
want the government to monitor everything that we do on the internet, but in today’s world
it’s necessary. After the aftermath of 9/11 America has dramatically shifted their views in
order to protect the people. Shortly afterword’s president bush signed the patriot act. This act
is a great representation on why it is necessary to take away a little freedom and security for
the great good of the nation. With this act it gave America permission to break the privacy of
individuals in order to find any links to terrorist activity to further stop the acts of terrorism.
(Johnson) Even though this is evades privacy it is a necessary, and if someone was arguing
against it, they have no reason to worry. Like with the idea to put drug testing as a necessary
to get welfare, if you are not doing anything wrong then you have mothering to worry about.
In conclusion. It is necessary to put regulations on freedom of speech. This is because it will
make the overall population of minority’s happy. It will eliminate the amount of hate speech
all over the world and in America. The reason that many Islamic nations hate America is
because we have so much freedom of speech that we tend to forget that other nation don’t

4. have it. And because of this almost everything hate related that is towards Islam comes from
America. (Johnson) To add on to that if we take away a little freedom of speech and privacy,
America can focus in on acting terrorist in the nation. In an overall stand point, if we take
away a little freedom we can help the overall good of the world.
Work Cited
JOHNSON,ERICM."Examining Blasphemy:InternationalLaw,NationalSecurity And TheU.S.Foreign
Policy Regarding FreeSpeech." Air Force Law Review71. (2014): 25-67. AcademicSearch Premier. Web.
28 Jan.2015.
Bleich, Erik. "The Rise Of Hate Speech And Hate Crime LawsIn Liberal Democracies." JournalOf Ethnic &
Migration Studies 37.6 (2011): 917-934. AcademicSearch Premier. Web. 28 Jan.2015.
Balkin,Jack M."Old-School/New-SchoolSpeech Regulation." Harvard Law Review 127.8 (2014): 2296-
2342. AcademicSearch Premier. Web.29 Jan.2015.
Greenblatt,Alan.“Freedomof speech atrisk. CQ researcher(2015). Web. 27 Jan.2015