Hyorim Kim
May 14, 2010
FD4
The Right Only Exists in a Community.
Human beings never live without others because humans are social animals that require close relationship with other people. Therefore, we have constructed communities throughout various networks. To generate smooth and active communities, we need to have communication with other including expressing and sharing his or her own ideas, and understanding each other. In the 20th century, the freedom of speech is considered as one of fundamental human rights as the First Amendment Right. Although, the freedom of speech is a democratic principle that must be protected to the utmost, its limitation is necessary because the freedom of speech exists within a community. [THESIS] Therefore, the right has a limitation for community’s order and balance, which means under the name of the freedom, we are not supposed to misuse our right. [THESIS]
The extent of how much our society allows or limits the freedom of speech is an ambiguous and controversial topic. In other words, giving a distinct boundary to the freedom of speech is really hard actually because of liberty. Liberty is a concept that each individual can act in certain way according to his or her own will. Although limitation and liberty have an antipathy, ironically the freedom of speech must have certain limitations for our community. Especially, speeches considered as only one person’s purpose without credibility and harming community must be limited. Moreover, one who gave such speeches cannot be protected under the First Amendment Right and will have a responsibility what he or she said.
I think when we express our ideas to someone and especially throughout public, the ideas must be based on credibility and responsibility. If his or her speech falls one of these components, it would cause social problems. In 2001 on September 11, terrorists attacked the twin tower of world trade center and a number of people died for no reason. It was a very tragic affair in America. While Americans were overwhelmed with grief, a person comment made them angry. Ward Churchill, a former ethic professor at the University of Colorado, has made a comment about victims as “little Eichmann’s,” the Nazi war criminal, it is an ongoing debate whether his speech protected according to the freedom of speech or not. Remington Taum states “Not only does it show Churchill in a bad light later on, but it's a comment that shows Churchill had no respect towards Americans.” I believe that Churchill misused and misunderstood the basic idea of the freedom of speech. As a member of his community, he needs to respect others’ feeling. I want to ask him that if one of his family members was a victim of 9/11, would he say what he said before. Definitely not, his comment is just careless and the result of abuse in free speech.
In addition, as a professor, he fell to transmit truth and reality to his students. In 2006 during an argument with David Horowitz, Author of "THE PROFESSORS," Churchill said “The purpose of a professor is to profess, not simply to impart sterile information. You can go to a trade school to get simply the delivery of the technical data.” He defends his comment by the freedom of speech and the purpose of education as well. Information were instituted by professor has to be clear and objective and then how perceive the information is students’ share. However, his personal feelings could prevail wrong information and concept to students. Sometime information from an unreliable source could create bad rumors and effect on people negatively.
I remember when my favorite Korean president, 16th South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, died in 2009. He was renowned for the president who lived frugally and honestly. Therefore, president Noh was respected by commoners in Korea. However, when new president was elected and new government came out, some politicians who have animosity toward Noh’ former government brought a bad supposition about Noh’ morality throughout public. The rumor is that Noh was taking huge secret money for personal wealth. He was under investigation by the prosecution. During the investigation, he committed suicide because all media described him as a liar and cheater. He might feel disgrace on himself. After his death, he could be cleared of his false charge. However, the rumor has had irreversible impact on society and his family. Whole country including me mourned together after the loss of a great leader by an undefined rumor. However, people who published the undefined rumor as a reality, such as politicians and journalists, wanted to be protected by the right of free speech.
Ward Churchill and his supporters have been insisting that Ward Churchill’s right of free speech has been violated. Edward Lee who defends Ward Churchill states that “His freedom of speech is one of the very foundation in which America was built upon and imposing on his freedom of speech would mean imposing on the constitution.” However, in my opinion, he has been enjoying his right of free speech by the First Amendment. The content of the First Amendment, it is clearly specified that “The most basic component of freedom of expression is the right of freedom of speech. The right to freedom of speech allows individuals to express themselves without interference or constraint by the government.” Since publicizing his idea about the victims of 9/11, he became even more famous than before. Moreover, he had a number of chances to give his speech about the controversial topic throughout publics.
The concept of the freedom of speech is different from other freedom of actions. For instance, if government planned to forbidden drinking Coca-Cola, the government would shut down Coca-Cola factory legally. In other words, if the United States or his society really did not respect his right of free speech, not only he could not make speech anymore but also his publications about the controversial topic would be vanished on the earth. Since human beings become a member of society, the society gives us various legal authorities, such as the First Amendment which is very thankful gift for us. Ward Churchill must realize that his community provides his right of free speech and if he is not in a community he could not express any his ideas and enjoy interactions with others. He must consider people’s feelings in the same community with him and if he hurts others by his authority, he would be responsible because the right to free speech only exists in a community.
WORKS CITED
"First Amendment: An Overview." N.d. Legal Information Instiitute. Cornell Law School. 5 June 2003.
[http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/first_amendment.html.]
Lee Edward."Defend Ward Churchill." Online Posting. 19 Apr 2010. Laulima Discussion 26 Apr 2010.
[https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/site/KAP.33517.201030/page/c2a89a6c-a93e-47dd-b419-873ef93bb50f]
Taum Remington. “Attack Ward Churchill.” Online Posting. 19 Apr 2010. Laulima Discussion. 26 Apr 2010.
[https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/site/KAP.33517.201030/page/c2a89a6c-a93e-47dd-b419-873ef93bb50f]
"Ward Churchill vs. Hannity, Colmes & Horowitz." _FoxNews.com_ 7 Apr. 2006. 26 Apr 2010.
[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190967,00.html].
Log of Completed Activities
X Apr. 6t- Intro to Paper #4. Read the Guidelines for Paper #4. (Confirmation reply required.)
X Apr. 12M- Complete readings for paper #4. (Confirmation reply required.)
X Apr. 16F- Laulima Discussion: Attack Ward Churchill
X Apr. 21W- Laulima Discussion: Defend Ward Churchill
L Apr. 26M- RD4 due. [50 pts] Review the guidelines. (Confirmation reply required.)
X Apr. 30F- RD4 reviews due [50 pts] Review the guidelines. (Confirmation reply required.)
X May 5W-14F- FD4 due [150 pts] Review the guidelines. (Confirmation reply required.)
Friday, May 14, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Hyorim Kim
10 May 2010
FD5/Final Exam
Hate crimes occur in human right barren zone.
When I was in my high school, I have watched a movie called “A time to kill” in my citizenship class. The movie was about a lawsuit related to racism between Caucasians and African-Americans. In Canton, Mississippi, one day an innocent African-American girl is viciously raped and killed by two white men. Although the two white men are brutal criminals, the local court is not likely to impose heavy penalty on the two guys because the white superiority took firm root in Canton. During the movie, KKK interrupted and intimidated the layer who is supporting killed girl. This was my first memory that I faced racial discrimination and hate crime. Most of hate crimes related to racial discrimination, homosexuality, and religion occurs when minorities’ human right is not respected by others. Every human being has a right to be happy and respected by others. [THESIS] Our society should provide security for minority groups by educating people and establishing standardized hate crime laws and institution.[THESIS]
America is the country that various ethnic groups coexist each other. Each ethnic group has distinctive values, religions, cultures from other group. Although such varieties have been a great advantage in America, there are many conflicts and tensions between different ethnic groups and it has been a serious social issue such as racial discrimination. In November 2006, Michael Richard, a comedian at a famous L.A. comedy club, made prejudiced remarks at his show. Richard humiliated one of African-American audiences by calling him “nigger” and making fun of African American. Richard yelled at the audience, "Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f***ing fork up your ass." While watching Richard’s show, I felt really uncomfortable and confused. I remember that all audiences were in chaos and finally left the show. Richard’s senseless remarks hurt African-Americans seriously and it is defiantly hate crime. I could not imagine that such ugly incident could occur, until I moved to Hawaii.
I came from Korea that is racially homogeneous nation and I barely had a chance to think about racial discriminations. However, living a foreign country gave me a notion that I could be the victim of hate crime. In the last summer vacation, I visited New York to see one of my friends. I went to a house party with my friend because she wanted to introduce her friends. One of her Caucasian friends asked me “why do you eat dog meat? It is an ignorant practice these days. ” she reputed Korean as barbarian. I was so embarrassed and everybody was focusing on my answer. Even though, I told them I do not eat dog meat and few old people eat dog meat, people in the party already looked at me oddly. I got a big hurt in my heart from that incident. When I think that moment, I am still embarrassed and angry. The Caucasian girl that I met in the party has a strong prejudice toward Korean and could not realize that her remarks could be considered as hate crime.
According to FBI annual official reports, in 2004, there were about 7,500 hate crimes, including violent hate crimes such as murder or assault. However, Heidi Beirich, spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said about the actual rate of hate crimes that “there’s really more like 50,000 hate crimes out there each year.” That is because some states do not have the recognition of hate crimes or have weak hate crime laws. Moreover, the rate of hate crime has been increasing since 1994. I believe that the primary solution of hate crimes are publishing standardized hate crime laws and establishing a specialized institution. Having the same standardized hate crime laws in America will give people to have the same awareness of hate crimes in everywhere. In addition, we will be able to instruct people through public so that hate crimes will be decreased. Hate crime education is especially important two groups, young generations and adults who already have bias or prejudice toward certain group. Providing hate crime education in schools will allow students to have right ideas of the crime and the rate of hate crimes will decrease in the future. Using media, such as TV, radio, and newspaper, we can instruct adults to be aware at hate crimes.
The specialized institution which I mentioned in my primary solution, the function of institution should be not only arresting and punishing criminals but also providing programs for the criminals. If the government only gives a harsh fine or punishment to a people who committed hate crime toward certain group of people, such as transgender, the criminal could have more ill feeling than before. We should provide hate crime criminals a chance to understand their prejudiced group by social programs. For instance, if a hate crime criminal who has a hatred against transgender, to break the prejudice, the program provide chance to meet a transgender and share personal feelings emotionally. The consultant who helps hate crime criminal must be professionally trained for such purpose. Therefore, we can prevent reoccurrence from former offenders.
In America, the rate of hate crimes has been increasing every year. America is the county that various ethnic groups live together. We cannot say which race or whose value is superior because every human being in the world has right to pursuit of happiness, it is civil right. Hate crimes are closely related to human right. People who committed hate crimes or keep prejudices in their mind toward a group of people are not respecting others civil right. To prevent victims of hate crimes, America should have standardized hate crime laws so that we can uniformly educate people to have right ideas of hate crimes. In addition, the government should establish a hate crime institution. The institution must have two functions that one is detecting and punishing criminals to protect victims and the other is providing retraining program to criminals so that they can have chance to break their prejudices. If we are living a society that ignores a certain group of people and make them as second-class citizen, there would be the human right barren zone.
Works Cited
“‘Kramer’s’ Racist Tirade — Caught on Tape.” TMZ.com. 20 Nov. 2006. 07 Dec. 2006
[http://www.tmz.com/2006/11/20/kramers-racist-tirade-caught-on-tape]
Anderson, Curt. “FBI Reports More Than 7,400 Hate Crimes.” Charlotte.com 22 Nov. 2004. 9 Dec. 2004 [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/10246350.htm]
10 May 2010
FD5/Final Exam
Hate crimes occur in human right barren zone.
When I was in my high school, I have watched a movie called “A time to kill” in my citizenship class. The movie was about a lawsuit related to racism between Caucasians and African-Americans. In Canton, Mississippi, one day an innocent African-American girl is viciously raped and killed by two white men. Although the two white men are brutal criminals, the local court is not likely to impose heavy penalty on the two guys because the white superiority took firm root in Canton. During the movie, KKK interrupted and intimidated the layer who is supporting killed girl. This was my first memory that I faced racial discrimination and hate crime. Most of hate crimes related to racial discrimination, homosexuality, and religion occurs when minorities’ human right is not respected by others. Every human being has a right to be happy and respected by others. [THESIS] Our society should provide security for minority groups by educating people and establishing standardized hate crime laws and institution.[THESIS]
America is the country that various ethnic groups coexist each other. Each ethnic group has distinctive values, religions, cultures from other group. Although such varieties have been a great advantage in America, there are many conflicts and tensions between different ethnic groups and it has been a serious social issue such as racial discrimination. In November 2006, Michael Richard, a comedian at a famous L.A. comedy club, made prejudiced remarks at his show. Richard humiliated one of African-American audiences by calling him “nigger” and making fun of African American. Richard yelled at the audience, "Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f***ing fork up your ass." While watching Richard’s show, I felt really uncomfortable and confused. I remember that all audiences were in chaos and finally left the show. Richard’s senseless remarks hurt African-Americans seriously and it is defiantly hate crime. I could not imagine that such ugly incident could occur, until I moved to Hawaii.
I came from Korea that is racially homogeneous nation and I barely had a chance to think about racial discriminations. However, living a foreign country gave me a notion that I could be the victim of hate crime. In the last summer vacation, I visited New York to see one of my friends. I went to a house party with my friend because she wanted to introduce her friends. One of her Caucasian friends asked me “why do you eat dog meat? It is an ignorant practice these days. ” she reputed Korean as barbarian. I was so embarrassed and everybody was focusing on my answer. Even though, I told them I do not eat dog meat and few old people eat dog meat, people in the party already looked at me oddly. I got a big hurt in my heart from that incident. When I think that moment, I am still embarrassed and angry. The Caucasian girl that I met in the party has a strong prejudice toward Korean and could not realize that her remarks could be considered as hate crime.
According to FBI annual official reports, in 2004, there were about 7,500 hate crimes, including violent hate crimes such as murder or assault. However, Heidi Beirich, spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said about the actual rate of hate crimes that “there’s really more like 50,000 hate crimes out there each year.” That is because some states do not have the recognition of hate crimes or have weak hate crime laws. Moreover, the rate of hate crime has been increasing since 1994. I believe that the primary solution of hate crimes are publishing standardized hate crime laws and establishing a specialized institution. Having the same standardized hate crime laws in America will give people to have the same awareness of hate crimes in everywhere. In addition, we will be able to instruct people through public so that hate crimes will be decreased. Hate crime education is especially important two groups, young generations and adults who already have bias or prejudice toward certain group. Providing hate crime education in schools will allow students to have right ideas of the crime and the rate of hate crimes will decrease in the future. Using media, such as TV, radio, and newspaper, we can instruct adults to be aware at hate crimes.
The specialized institution which I mentioned in my primary solution, the function of institution should be not only arresting and punishing criminals but also providing programs for the criminals. If the government only gives a harsh fine or punishment to a people who committed hate crime toward certain group of people, such as transgender, the criminal could have more ill feeling than before. We should provide hate crime criminals a chance to understand their prejudiced group by social programs. For instance, if a hate crime criminal who has a hatred against transgender, to break the prejudice, the program provide chance to meet a transgender and share personal feelings emotionally. The consultant who helps hate crime criminal must be professionally trained for such purpose. Therefore, we can prevent reoccurrence from former offenders.
In America, the rate of hate crimes has been increasing every year. America is the county that various ethnic groups live together. We cannot say which race or whose value is superior because every human being in the world has right to pursuit of happiness, it is civil right. Hate crimes are closely related to human right. People who committed hate crimes or keep prejudices in their mind toward a group of people are not respecting others civil right. To prevent victims of hate crimes, America should have standardized hate crime laws so that we can uniformly educate people to have right ideas of hate crimes. In addition, the government should establish a hate crime institution. The institution must have two functions that one is detecting and punishing criminals to protect victims and the other is providing retraining program to criminals so that they can have chance to break their prejudices. If we are living a society that ignores a certain group of people and make them as second-class citizen, there would be the human right barren zone.
Works Cited
“‘Kramer’s’ Racist Tirade — Caught on Tape.” TMZ.com. 20 Nov. 2006. 07 Dec. 2006
[http://www.tmz.com/2006/11/20/kramers-racist-tirade-caught-on-tape]
Anderson, Curt. “FBI Reports More Than 7,400 Hate Crimes.” Charlotte.com 22 Nov. 2004. 9 Dec. 2004 [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/10246350.htm]
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