Opinion: Being free to speak your mind

Learn more about the significance of one of the greatest American rights.

Speaking freely is one of the greatest freedoms that a person can have. The power of language allows people to express themselves and their beliefs. However, even though there is the idea that people should speak freely, there has to be limits because sometimes inappropriate speech can result in dire consequences. The U.S. Constitution might have granted the freedom of speech, but there truly are some statements that should not be said. Because of its hurtful nature, language that results in severe punishments, like death, should not be allowed because of horrific consequences such as that.

Threats could be very serious statements, which is a type of language that should not be allowed. For example, if a person is being mean, and makes the threatening statement, “I want to kill you,” that person might be a psychotic murderer who might actually hurt the person that he or she is talking to. Limiting what people can say could potentially prevent homicide. That is because sometimes people end up killing each other because of hatred that exists between such individuals. If people could speak freely about murder, those people might actually go on a killing spree as they prepare themselves for mass murders. Another reality is that some people actually do suffer from mental illness, which could prompt them to engage in either suicidal behavior, homicidal behavior, or a combination of both. Nevertheless, such behavior is obviously dangerous, and threatening statements should not be made, especially if those statements could lead to the potential deaths of innocent people in America.

Even though people could harm each other with negative words, the only real limit that should be placed on the freedom of speech is language that could lead to death. That is because words that people might perceive as negative could actually be constructive. This special type of language is known as constructive criticism. Basically, constructive criticism involves people making critical remarks about another person, object, or idea because the speaker wants to point out the faults of such entities so that improvement could possibly be made. Constructive criticism can actually be very beneficial to the receivers of such criticism because criticism points out the issues that need to be resolved. In fact, the idea of negativity in language can be both helpful and hurtful to receivers of such remarks. That is because some people are sensitive to constructive criticism, and would feel offended if they are not always right the first time they attempt a new task. For example, a critic might regard the work of an artist as poor. The artist would receive language that is both negative and hurtful in the emotional sense. Nevertheless, such remarks could lead to progress because receivers could use them as a way to learn.

In contrast, threats can actually result in violence, chaos, and even possible death. The reason why people should not use threats is because innocent people should not be killed simply because another person wants such people to die. The murder of the innocent is actually a very serious crime because life-threatening statements that murderers speak could result in reckless behavior and unnecessary deaths. Therefore, threatening language should be limited because violence could result from one person wanting to murder others that do not deserve to die.

Finally, people can say whatever they want for the most part. Some people can say nice comments towards anyone or anything they might like, and other people can make rude comments about what they do not like. Freedom of speech is the reason why people have the right to express their opinions. However, the only real limit that should be placed on freedom of speech is any threat that might kill people because no one should have the right to murder the innocent. The fact of the matter is that ordinary people should not be killed just because other people do not like them. Hatred can lead to tension, but that type of stress should never result in homicide or reckless crimes.