What is the First Amendment and Why is it important?
The First Amendment allows multiple social and political freedoms, one including the right to speak freely. This struck controversy into the limits of this freedom, after the attack on 9/11/2001, the usage of the word “bomb” is not permitted in airports, and is primarily not admired anywhere else either. No one’s arguing with that. Society further questioned this Amendment when Former President Donald Trump used the social media “Twitter” to promote Republican Propaganda, which some belief to be “instigating an insurrection.” This was the result of Trump tweeting that the 2020 election had been “stolen,” and falsely accused the Democratic Party of voter fraud. Furthermore, this led to Trump being banned off social media platforms. Since then, his platforms are able to be seen by the public months after the Insurrection on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. American Citizens have made claims that these were a violation of governmental rights, primarily violating the 1st Amendment.
What is censorship?
Censorship is the notion into which “protection” comes into place. This is why the radios, televisions shows, and multiple media platforms censor curse words, people have the ability to “report” you, which could temporarily get you banned. This protection is for children, victims of hate speech, and a safeguard to national security. The first amendment sets protections against censorship, this allows for people to spread their views amongst each other freely. Due to the multiple restrictions set, trying to prevent terrorism and unethical things.
Testing the limits
In 2021, just 15 days before President Biden’s Inauguration, Former President Donald Trump posted a tweet to go to his rally in D.C, and shortly after, Capitol Hill was stormed. Many radical conservative groups or The Proud Boys, are the groups that claimed violence against cops wasn’t the answer, definitely thought something different about the government and politicians. This is the time when many republicans defended Trump and condemned different social media sites for banning Trump due to a violation of First Amendment rights. Though many people believe these sites were doing all they could to protect the country from the fear and terror that occurred that day.
Conversely, the first amendment also allows people to promote their beliefs, ideas, sexualities, and many other things. This allows people to speak out against the government and express themselves. Bills have been passed to silence people which is a violation of their rights. There was a bill in Florida prohibiting the usage or actions of homosexuality. As the amendment allows people to fully be themselves, the media misinterprets a profuse amount. There is a gray area and censorship is necessary but only to a certain extent, the extent to which you are causing harm to yourself or others which is a violation of many other laws.
