Blog One

Today is the first day for me to write my first blog. It's pretty exciting, but at the same time I have many ideas I want to write about, narrowing it down is going to be a challenge for me. Therefore, today I decided to focus on the topic of this course, "Free Speech and Responsibility." Considering, I have never taken a class on Free Speech before; I am thrilled to start going down the path and learning about Free Speech ad its elements throughout this course. Before this class started, I had many ideas as well as questions inside my head as to what free speech means.
In my opinion, free speech is the freedom to speak without any limitations, but also to think about what you say so that you don't harm or hurt other people. Although, you can speak how you feel or express what you have to say on certain issues, there is a line that should not be crossed with certain things that should not be said. For example, certain aspects of disrespecting anyone is ways that are crucial to race, sexuality, gender, etc. Although you may have different views and opinion on a issue and have the right to express how you feel, I believe there are certain limitations that should not be passed when expressing how you feel. This can lead to many different negative outcomes amongst people. I know from personal experience, there have been many times where I wanted to say something so badly and express how I felt to another individual, but I knew it may have offended them in one way or another. Therefore in situations like this, I held back my freedom to speak what I wanted and approached what I wanted to tell the other individual in a different way, in which didn't cross the limitations that would offended them in any way. Speaking the way you feel is not a bad thing at all, it's just the way you go about doing it. This needs to be done in a respectful manner no matter how much you hate a certain thing or disagree with certain issues.

As broad as the word "Free Speech" is I know there is going to be a lot learned on what "Free Speech" actually is. After doing a couple readings and a few group discussions on free speech, I am gaining new knowledge and information from hearing others opinions and ideas on how they feel about this topic. I may not know much considering this is my first class on Free Speech; but I am excited to continue on and learn more of what this course is all about!!!