Model Senate
College Essay Boot Camp
First Amendment Media Project
This video take you through the adventures of the First Amendment Freak in her quest to fully understand the rights given to us in the first amendment. Sir Teddy Bear is FAF's master and sends her on missions to uncover the most important pieces of the first amendment.
Free Speech Forum
The Free Speech Forum was an assignment meant to solidify our knowledge of our right to free speech and to connect it to circumstances in our real world. We chose an object which we thought demonstrated a clear connection between the world and free speech. Then we wrote an essay answer the two essential questions: 1) Why is the right to free speech important in a Democracy? and 2) How does your object demonstrate this? For my Free Speech Forum I chose The Hunger Games series for my connection. In my essay I show how these books depict a country that has been denied it's right to speech and has spiraled out of control as a result.
The Silence Strike
Suzanne Collins’ series ‘The Hunger Games’ is one of the most challenged books today. This is because of its rebellious nature and societal significance. The series was published in September of 2008 and has skyrocketed to the top of the charts since. The subliminal messages within the book are quite controversial and demonstrate a connection to the importance of free speech. The books are set in a country called Panem with a corrupt government that has stripped its citizens of their basic rights. Nearly a century before this story takes place the country broke out in riots and uprisings destroying the relationship and trust between the people and the capitol. The government struck back with an iron whip and silenced the noise. New laws were put into place and as a result, the capitol hosts the annual Hunger Games, a tournament aired on TV; a fight to the death between 24 kids under the age of 18 for honor, food, and balance; in this game of death and destruction, there is only one survivor. Katniss – our heroine- volunteered herself into the Games in place of her baby sister who was too small and vulnerable to fight. In this country, no one had the right to speak up to defend the people against the way they were being oppressed. The districts were spiraling out of control again, but with the underdog from district thirteen there was hope for defeating the games and the capitol.
In this country today there is a very delicate balance between the people and the government. This balance is maintained by our right to speak freely and to participate the decisions of the government. Contrastingly, in this series, the people’s right to speech and expression have been revoked, setting off the balance and destroying the relationship and trust between the two.
Speaking is a major ingredient in the foundation of knowledge. Listening is the key to progress. To progress, you must first bring to attention the problem, and for that one must speak up and voice it, otherwise there will be no change. In a democracy progress is one of the most important values: indispensable to a functioning government. These books describe a government that denied its people of their role in the development of the country. But as humans, natural instincts prevailed and compelled the people to stand up, to speak, and this created a conflict that resulted in corruption and eventually in the destruction of the government. Uprisings and riots against the government are much more harmful than a peaceful protest in the street, but if we expect change then we must be willing to put up at least a bit of a fight for it. A balance must be established and maintained between the people and the power. In our society today we have carried about many major changes in our government by way of speech. Women have the right to vote, African Americans were finally recognized as equal and were granted their civil liberties. Throughout the years progress has been made. But where would we be had that progress not been made?
Without our right to speak our minds we would fall victim to the authorities and be much more subject to police brutality. In ‘The Hunger Games’, the capitol installed peacekeepers within each of the twelve districts. Their job was to keep order, to make sure that things were going according to law, and to punish anyone who was acting out or speaking up. After Katniss won she set off on her victory tour of the country and gave a speech to the district of her fallen friend. One man gave a salute, a peace offering; he was shot on the spot. Total prohibition of speech is much too restrictive for anyone to abide by. It is like outlawing our right to scream when we are frightened, or smile when we are happy. Police intervention would be constant and fighting back would not be an option, unless you were willing to suffer the legal and/or physical consequences.
We have been granted an incredible gift of speech, and even more treasured is our ability to use it freely. And just as speaking is a natural instinct, so is listening. If we use Panem as an example, we see that the lack of communication is dysfunctional and destructive to the entire country. In Panem the source of all political conflict is in the oppression of the people and the ignorance of the capitol. This cannot happen in a democracy, it defeats the purpose. This is the balance: the government has the power, we have the voice, they must listen, and they don’t have a choice. It may take a few bold hearted attempts to get a message across but it is well worth the reward of change.
In this country today there is a very delicate balance between the people and the government. This balance is maintained by our right to speak freely and to participate the decisions of the government. Contrastingly, in this series, the people’s right to speech and expression have been revoked, setting off the balance and destroying the relationship and trust between the two.
Speaking is a major ingredient in the foundation of knowledge. Listening is the key to progress. To progress, you must first bring to attention the problem, and for that one must speak up and voice it, otherwise there will be no change. In a democracy progress is one of the most important values: indispensable to a functioning government. These books describe a government that denied its people of their role in the development of the country. But as humans, natural instincts prevailed and compelled the people to stand up, to speak, and this created a conflict that resulted in corruption and eventually in the destruction of the government. Uprisings and riots against the government are much more harmful than a peaceful protest in the street, but if we expect change then we must be willing to put up at least a bit of a fight for it. A balance must be established and maintained between the people and the power. In our society today we have carried about many major changes in our government by way of speech. Women have the right to vote, African Americans were finally recognized as equal and were granted their civil liberties. Throughout the years progress has been made. But where would we be had that progress not been made?
Without our right to speak our minds we would fall victim to the authorities and be much more subject to police brutality. In ‘The Hunger Games’, the capitol installed peacekeepers within each of the twelve districts. Their job was to keep order, to make sure that things were going according to law, and to punish anyone who was acting out or speaking up. After Katniss won she set off on her victory tour of the country and gave a speech to the district of her fallen friend. One man gave a salute, a peace offering; he was shot on the spot. Total prohibition of speech is much too restrictive for anyone to abide by. It is like outlawing our right to scream when we are frightened, or smile when we are happy. Police intervention would be constant and fighting back would not be an option, unless you were willing to suffer the legal and/or physical consequences.
We have been granted an incredible gift of speech, and even more treasured is our ability to use it freely. And just as speaking is a natural instinct, so is listening. If we use Panem as an example, we see that the lack of communication is dysfunctional and destructive to the entire country. In Panem the source of all political conflict is in the oppression of the people and the ignorance of the capitol. This cannot happen in a democracy, it defeats the purpose. This is the balance: the government has the power, we have the voice, they must listen, and they don’t have a choice. It may take a few bold hearted attempts to get a message across but it is well worth the reward of change.