The Many Faces of Freedom Essay - 1194 Words

The Many Face of Freedom? Freedom is a concept that people are often willing to die for and it is the cause of much fighting. However, few people ever claim to dislike freedom. This raises an interesting question: how can people fight over what is generally considered to be a positive idea? Does this mean that someone must be against freedom? The answer is that people cannot agree on what freedom is, thus numerous groups can claim to be for freedom while strongly disagreeing on the means by which to achieve it. These groups often argue vehemently and passionately, trying to convince the majority that their side is right. However, emotion is only one part of deciding who is more persuasive. I offer two examples of disagreements†¦show more content†¦In other words, they saw their campus, and in turn America as a whole, moving towards the exact type of tyrannical government that they were most opposed to. They saw these actions as representative of a totalitarian or fascist government. To them, freedom meant smaller government and more control by the people, a more democratic democracy. Starting with the society on their campus, the students saw their ideal democracy being taken away and more of their rights being infringed upon. This led to a disagreement between students and authority figures over freedom. The administration saw freedom as the absence of Communism, and saw the students views as dangerously close to Communist. Since this was occurring during both the Cold War and the Vietnam War, Communism was a tangible threat to American security. Freedom of speech played a key part in this argument, since the students believed in absolute freedom of speech, which the authorities often saw as dangerous. They too believed in the First Amendment right of the Constitution, but at the same time they felt that certain speech should be limited. Such as speeches made by Socialists, Anarchists, and Communists. As Reagan put it, the students were going from free speech to filthy speech(Freedom vs. Anarchy On Campus, 346). As a result, the two groups accused each other of threatening the majoritys freedom, while both claimed to represent the majority. The conflict became anShow MoreRelated The Crisis of the American Teen Essay656 Words   |  3 Pagesform from child to adult, but that must come from the parents. Many parents either feel powerless to give a child what they need in life because the child can get it else where: they may do whatever it is that they want behind a parent’s back. They could also be insecure about themselves and that they did not receive the guidance themselves when they needed in growing up. Teenagers need protection against the dangers that they may face so that they can be prepared for the future. Teenagers nowRead MoreFree Essays : Free Soul Free Women1237 Words   |  5 Pageshuman being with an independent will†. 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