Free Speech, I wanna hear about your censorship.

Hello fellow ATS'ers
It is my hope that this finds you all well, and not to covered in snow like me. I am doing a research paper on Freedom of Speech and i have been researching a ton of cases. It dawned on me that i have this massive resource (ATS) that i have not taken advatage of.
Many of you on here surely know of some of the keystone cases when dealing with Freedom of Speech and censorship, but i am curious as to the cases that do not make the mainstream. That may have for whatever reason not have been "jumped" on by the media.
If you, or anyone you know of, have been censored or had your Right to Free Speech stripped of you i would love to hear as much about it as possible.
It is my opinion that Freedom of Speech is the fundamental pillar for success in any society, alot of the termoil in the US can be attributed to the fact that we (im Canadian but consider us all as we) as a society have lost our undersatdning of the power of Free Speech.
I have been searching all over for who originally said this (perhaps someone on here will know) but it is my favourite quote of all time.

"If i were to have all but one right taken from me, i would choose to retain my Freedom of Speech. For it is with this one Right alone that i can regain all the other Rights that were taken from me."
-anon

Shame for such a beatiful quote to be un-credited. Or the other side of the coin it works Anon because it can be said for all of us and by all of us!

Good luck on your research. I have a story, where I felt silenced, and it actually affected my education in the end.


In high school, I was asked to leave, to drop out, for something that I spoke out about.
So heres one of my many stories:
I went to a southern United States conservative school. I will not mention the name, or the name of anyone involved.
1996-My junior year.
There were supporters of The Christian Coallition, that held meetings in the mornings, before school classes. They would pray at the flag pole, and offer any passing students to come and pray with them.
I often arrived at school 20-30 minutes early, to finish any homework I had the night before, or to read a chapter ahead for class. After being harrassed, repeatedly by these people, I decided to read up on their organization.
I had not yet decided to be an atheist, but I did question religion. After reading up on The Christian Coallition, the 700 club, and Pat Robertson, I decided to make my own meeting at the flag pole.

I made posterboard signs, and asked friends to join me. The signs stated that "school is no place for religion". Also..
"Pat Robertson wants your money"...
"God needs your money"
This obviously made me a target. Even more so when the school paper interviewed me about the ordeal.

I started getting threats, by several people. When I reported it to the principal, he sat me down, and said "school wasnt for me". Regardless of my good marks. He told me to drop out, get my GED, and get on with my life. He even suggested, maybe I deserved to be a pariah, and threatened. Like I should have expected that treatment.
I did. I quit, got my diploma, moved on.

The moral of the story? If you want to protest, or state your opinion, make sure you have someone in high places to back you up, or protect you. I think of this story every time I see someone standing up for what the believe in.
Do you not have rights just because you are young?


[Note* Yes, I realize that my behavior was unacceptable for school. But when youre young and passionate, you dont realize that. I certainly do now.]

In High School I edited our paper and was removed from the paper for citing a major error by the administration that led to an increased dollar amount for our prom tickets

Later I was allowed to keep doing my cartoon in the paper. I was removed when my friend (the illustrator) and myself (the storyboard artist) made a satyrical reference to our characters missing their prom due to a clerical mistake

The lesson learned? don't make fun of the administration

-Kyo

reply to post by Hack28

I'm happy to help but it would help me if you tell me the cases you're focusing on so far. I assume you're covering the biggies:

New York Times vs. Sullivan on the Alien and Sedition acts.

Schenck vs. the United States, this is fire in a crowded movie house case

Debs vs. the United States

Texas versus Johnson (flag burning case)

Jacovellis Vs. Ohio: pornography laws

just a few but important, also are you lumping in freedom of the press with freedom of speech?

Just wondering.

ps: I'm having no luck on your quote either.


[edit on 10-12-2009 by kenochs]

reply to post by InertiaZero


I think your actions were fine for school, they were preaching to you werent they? I cant BELIEVE they would tell you to move on with your life, thats insane!! Thank you for the story, i am expecting to get alot of head scratching stories from this, yours is definatly one.
I heade your warning of friends in high places because when people want to shut you up they will call in favours.
I love the signs though and hope it hasnt detered you in the futur from hodling signs.
700 club does want your money, dont they ask for it?

reply to post by kenochs


i love the movie theatre case, i think its put beautifully
"freedom of speech does not give you the right to yell fire in a crowded movie theater" or something, thats close enough.
Yes i am covering those, and going into freedom of press as well. With my paper im doing a couple minute speech along with it so i will have to file it down, i figured the big cases will be good to prove my points in the paper but lesser known tales of the everyday person would grab the attention more, get them to relate.
Also i know eh with that quote, i first heard it in Fighting Fire: on the edge of free speech. Or something similar its an HBO movie and i cant get a copy of the movie online (for free) so i cant tell who said it.

reply to post by Hack28


I actually have an irrational fear of holding signs/others holding signs of any kind now.

Oh.......... how many fund-raiser-roadside-car-washes I have ruined.
JK

Originally posted by InertiaZero
reply to post by Hack28

 

I actually have an irrational fear of holding signs/others holding signs of any kind now.

Oh.......... how many fund-raiser-roadside-car-washes I have ruined.
JK

hahahah, that was genius, all the hockey watchers on here will get this but others may not.
When Heatley was traded to Ottawa my bud and i went to a game and we had a sign that said

"Heatley Killed a Man"

because he had in Atlanta and we were told that it is innapproriate and we would have to leave if we showed it again.
I thought it was bleeding hilarious though. Definatly in bad tatse and they were right on that one.

I have no personal experience with having my 1st Amendment rights infringed upon, but I'm pretty sure your quote is from Thomas Jefferson. At least that's how I'd answer it on Jeopardy.

reply to post by yeahright


Thank-you, i think ill quote him for it, not like they will have access to google as quickly as we do, and we couldnt even find it. Soo Tommy Boy its yours.
and remember for jeopardy to answer in the form of a question, could cost ya.

Have you ever heard of Mara Liasson or Juan Williams? They are two outstanding journalists who've devoted their careers to presenting their opinions regardless of criticism or support.

The are affiliated with NPR, but also appear in panel discussions (and sometimes as subs for a host) on the Fox network.

NPR has recently attempted to force them to cut off any ties to Fox news, fearing "appearances."

That is blatant suppression of free expression by the MSM.

First reported here:
NPR Reporter Pressured Over Fox Role

I am a daily listener to NPR, and support my local NPR-broadcast stations. I also watch some of the Fox programming, among other things. I am able to discern among and objectively assess differing opinions and ideologies.

I found this absolutely despicable conduct from NPR.

Good luck with your topic.

jw

reply to post by jdub297


Thank-you i appreciate that, i am not familiar with the news link and sources you gave me so thanks alot for that. Im going to read up on them now, any foe of fox news is a friend of mine.

Try working with Crime victims and see how fast they clamp censorship on you... I've even been call by our lieutenant governor and warned I better stop sending out press releases.
thanks to the Internet we can still get our stories out.Visit Real Crimes
its set up for reporters to get background info on pending cases. rarely gets cited... that doesnt stop us updating

Some censorship is understandable however... FYI there is an unwritten agreement not to publish accounts of suicides unless the person is very famous or other people were involved.. they do that so as not to encourage others to try...

Originally posted by DaddyBare
Try working with Crime victims and see how fast they clamp censorship on you... I've even been call by our lieutenant governor and warned I better stop sending out press releases.
thanks to the Internet we can still get our stories out.Visit Real Crimes
its set up for reporters to get background info on pending cases. rarely gets cited... that doesnt stop us updating

Some censorship is understandable however... FYI there is an unwritten agreement not to publish accounts of suicides unless the person is very famous or other people were involved.. they do that so as not to encourage others to try...

Itis interesting you mentioned that because a hot topic lately here in Toronto Canada was the local tranportation board was FORCED to reveal the amount of suicides that have taken place on the tracks since 1990, it was like 1600 or something, and they said the reason for the silence and their refusal to release the stats earlier was to discourage other people from doing it.
One has to think the same tactic will be applied once more people start doing things they wish for the others not to do. Like bringing back flood pants.

reply to post by Hack28

If you're doing freedom of the press there is a wonderful book called: "The first casualty." It's about the history of censorship during war time, I think it will carry you through Gulf war I. Amazing stuff.

Also, ACLU is a great source, they've defended all kinds of folks from Rush Limbaugh to the Klan in regards to freedom of speech.

Finally, the Ellsberg case, the Pentagon papers is a truly stunning case, ABC versus Food Lion, check out the movie the Insider if you want to get a feel for how corporate interests impact journalism but not really in a judicial sense, it's more like censorship by a company too big to get sued.

If you're looking for everyman stories there are loads out there regarding school papers and censorship by school officials.

Anyway, hope that helps.

reply to post by Hack28


My observations on this subject suggests that here in the UK the censorship raped appropriate behaviour and what we see today is the child of that crime. You must not talk freely on sensitive subjects, because it's not polite. If you're not polite people will not like you. People are trained not to like certain things, without noticing (via papers, TV, popular culture, etc). These certain things tend to correlate with philosophy of NWO, or our idea of NWO. You can be sarcastic all you want, rant on the government and public servants, in fact this is very British to do. But you absolutely must not make a nuisance of yourself by talking taboo subjects.

You may find the videos of Charlie and Danny on youtube useful in your research as well as great entertainment. It shows how UK deals with people who fancy a bit of a free speech you see, we, sophisticated people in Britain will not have all that nuisance on the streets, it's not proper you know.

Some examples are below: