Argumentive Essay
"Are you ready brothers and sisters? Are you really ready? To do this for Jezzzzz-usssssss? Then fulfill your promise to the master. Help rub the devil out. For we can no longer tolerate these dirty adulterous books. Meet me at the Jordan river, and let the fires of hell burn these sinners and their evil books" (Tubman). Jimmy Lee Tubman said these words at a revival back in 1978. While many will argue that Tubman had the right to criticize book publishers and writers, few could have anticipated that this speech would be a prelude to a riot in Bean Blossom Indiana which left one dead and thirty five injured. Jimmy Lee Tubman had in fact crossed the boundaries of free speech and entered into the land of agitators.
Tubman was never tried for inciting the Bean Blossom Burnings. Tubman argued that he had simply exercised his freedom of speech. Freedom of speech. The first amendment. This is the right which separates America from so many other countries. I believe freedom of speech is a right which should be defended but also be more clearly defined. The boundaries of freedom of speech should be set. Freedom of speech may be exercised only until it interferes or infringes on the rights of others In the case of Paul Robert Cohen vs. the State of California, the United States Defined free speech as freedom of expression. (Barnet and Bedau 235). This means that individual are at liberty to express thoughts clearly as long as conduct does not incite violence. The problem here lies in interpreting what incites violence. The state of California argued that Cohen's jacket, which contained graphic anti-Vietnam sentiments, was designed to motivate people to riot. The dissenting opinion agreed, saying, "Cohen was little speech and mostly conduct"(Barnet and Bedau 238). How can conduct be directly connected to speech? I believe that John Stuart Mills may provide a working definition here. Mills says that freedom ends when it impinges on the...
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