Freedom Of Speech Research Paper Samples

Human beings are entitled to several rights one of them is the right to express yourself or speak your thoughts out or in other terms the freedom of speech. Even though each and every individual has the right to express themselves, there are boundaries that are set to ensure that whatever an individual says or the way one expresses themselves does not interfere in any way with the well being of others . As such, people ought to have limits of how they express themselves. There has been continued argument on what exactly is entailed in the term freedom of speech or to be more precise on what exactly should and should not be done when one expresses themselves and as such, this paper would try to analyze this issue of freedom of speech in order to bring into light more of what it entails so as to clear the issues that may arise in relations to it.
In general, freedom of speech can be specifically defined as the political right of an individual or group to communicate their opinion and ideas. Even though there individual have freedom of speech, governments have set boundary in relations to it so as to ensure that borders are not over crossed. Several limitations have been put forward by many governments in relations to speech which include hate speech, libel, classified information, trade secrets, libel, obscenity, public security, non-disclosure agreements, copyright violation, slander, pornography, oppression, public order, campaign finance reform, and public nuisance . The main reason to why these restrictions are put forward is due to the fact that whether such a limitation may be proved under the harm principle whether on an influence upon a third party’s opinion or even action towards the second party brings them harm or not. Freedom of speech is not a right that has started to be practiced in the recent years but since the olden days where it was found in the early human rights documents . An example is the England’s Bill of Rights 1689 that legally established the right of freedom of speech as a constitutional right which up to now is still being practiced. Another example is the adoption of the Declaration of the rights of Man and of the Citizen by the French Revolution in 1789. This declaration established freedom of speech as a right that should be given to every individual.
The main reason as to why I decided to put focus on this topic of freedom of speech is due to the fact that many have offended others and they shamefully claim that they are exercising their freedom of speech. Many people look at freedom of speech from an upper angle i.e. from the simple definition of what having freedom to speak oneself is but they forget that it is of essence to ensure that whatever you say should not harm the second party or affect them in any negative way . As such, it is of essence for individual to keep in mind that whatever they do while exercising their freedom of speech should not hurt other individuals in anyway even though they are practicing what may be deemed to be freedom of speech.
The fact that we have looked at this topic means that having clearly defined what freedom of speech is, many students would be careful of how they express themselves speech wise. Many individuals had the wrong impression of what freedom of speech is but this paper would play a big part in informing other students of what is really meant by the term freedom of speech.

Annotated Bibliography

Alexander, L. (2000). Freedom of speech - Volume 1. London: John Wiley and Sons.
Alexander, L wrote this book Freedom of Speech with the main aim of explaining into detail on what is really meant by this term. He goes forward to analyze the different perceptions that people have been having in regards to this term and eventually gives the precise meaning of the term freedom of speech.
Baker, C. E. (1999). Human Liberty and Freedom of Speech. London: Blackwell Publishers.
In the book Human Liberty and Freedom of Speech, Baker looks at freedom of speech as a human right that everyone is entitled to. He justifies this by stating a number of constitutional sections.
Bezanson, R. P. (2009). Art and Freedom of Speech. Oxford: Oxford Publishers.
Bezanson brings art into play as part of expressing one self even if it is not directly by uttering words but through art. he argues that freedom of speech should also be expressed in art so that individuals can express themselves in their artistic works.
David Kretzmer, ‎. K. (2000). Freedom of Speech and Incitement Against Democracy. Cambridge: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Kretzmer looks at one of the issues that has been experienced in several countries in politics with people being ignorant with their speech to the public in the name of exercising their freedom of speech. He identifies that individuals may indulge into inciting others and justify themselves that they are exercising their freedom of speech and he goes further to explain the correct concept of freedom of speech is.
Ineke Sluiter, ‎. M. (2004). Free speech in classical antiquity. New York: Blackwell Publishers.
Sluiter is a scholar who decided to overlook at the mayhem that has been surrounding free speech and he advocates for individuals to limit themselves in whatever they say while exercising their freedom of speech.
Powers, E. (2001). Freedom of Speech: The History of an Idea. London: Rowman & Littlefield.
In his book, Powers tries to look at the background of how freedom of speech came into play and he does this by looking at different histories of different countries so as point out how this idea of freedom of speech came into action.
Rabban, D. M. (1999). Free Speech in Its Forgotten Years, 1870-1920. New Jersey: Rosewell Publishers.
Rabban specifically looks at freedom of speech in the olden days i.e. 1870-1920 and looks at how it has evolved over time. He identifies different views that people have been having of this term as time has been passing.
Sadurski, W. (2001). Freedom of Speech and Its Limits . London: Blackwell Publishers.
Sadurski as a scholar looks to what extent should individuals express themselves in the name of having their freedom of speech. According to this scholar, one is said to be exercising their freedom of speech if and only if they do not bring harm to others in any way.
Saxonhouse, A. W. (2005). Free Speech and Democracy in Ancient Athens. Oxford : Oxford Publishers.
Saxonhouse in his books looks at how freedom of speech was handled in ancient Athens and compares it to how several other regions looked at it.
Warburton, N. (2009). Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Warburton is very precise and direct in his book as he directly points out at what freedom of speech is and criticises what others think of it.