Humanities
1st Amendment Media Project
Project Overview: Before this project, we covered content on the 1st Amendment. We learned about forms of protected speech, forms of unprotected speech and even chose a piece of unprotected speech we were passionate about and wrote an essay and gave a presentation to the class (look below for more details on this project). The last project along with the content covered led up to this project. For this project we split into groups and took our knowledge of the first amendment and turned it into a video. My group and I chose to focus on our 5 main categories of unprotected speech. We focused on our unprotected speech because we felt that it was important for people to know.
Free Speech Forum
Essential Question/Prompt: Why is the right to free speech important in our democracy, and how does your selection show/prove this?
Project Overview: During this project we learned about different reasons why free speech is important within our democracy. Our task for this project was to pick a piece of free speech that we liked and that we thought was a good example of free speech in our society. We were able to pick anything (songs, poems, cartoons, books, satire, and confrontational political or news pieces) that we thought met the free speech criteria. After choosing a piece of free speech, we were expected to right an essay containing the following points: Why free speech is important in our democracy and how our chosen piece demonstrated that. We were also expected to give a 4-5 minute presentation where we showcased our piece of free speech and discussed the prompt. Lastly, we were expected to make a visual to go along with our essay.
If you are interested in what I chose, look below for my essay and visual piece.
Project Overview: During this project we learned about different reasons why free speech is important within our democracy. Our task for this project was to pick a piece of free speech that we liked and that we thought was a good example of free speech in our society. We were able to pick anything (songs, poems, cartoons, books, satire, and confrontational political or news pieces) that we thought met the free speech criteria. After choosing a piece of free speech, we were expected to right an essay containing the following points: Why free speech is important in our democracy and how our chosen piece demonstrated that. We were also expected to give a 4-5 minute presentation where we showcased our piece of free speech and discussed the prompt. Lastly, we were expected to make a visual to go along with our essay.
If you are interested in what I chose, look below for my essay and visual piece.
Pro-Life, Pro-Choice or In-between
Flipsyde is a rap/R&B/rock band from Oakland, California. Their song Happy Birthday was released as their second single on December 27, 2005, a time where the debate around abortion was especially strong. States enacted 52 laws restricting abortion in 2005. This song was written as a man’s apology for his involvement in an abortion. The lyrics are in first person and address the child he might have had. Flipsyde’s song Happy Birthday is a good example of free speech because although it does not pick a side on the abortion debate, it forces the listener to look at abortion through a new lens.
Freedom of speech is one of our basic human rights: without it, democracy cannot survive. Freedom of speech allows everyone to think and express themselves freely. It gives people the power to form and express their own ideas, beliefs, and opinions. It opens the door to varied opinions, and new or different ideas on situations going on in the world. Free speech allows for change within the world. Take the debate around gay marriage for example. Freedom of speech allowed for lobbying, protesting, distributing flyers and debating and caused a big change in public perception and the law within a significantly small amount of time. Without the freedom of speech the ideas, opinions and the voices of the people surrounding this topic would never have been heard.
When it comes to the debate around abortion there are of two main viewpoints: pro-life and pro-choice. Free speech has contributed immensely to the debate around abortion within both standpoints. Based on the following quotes, we can see that opinions coming from each side of the argument have been expressed freely because of our right to free speech. “I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born” (Ronald Reagan). Reagan shows that he was more or less against abortion. “No woman wants an abortion as she wants an ice cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion as an animal caught in a trap wants to gnaw off its own leg” (Frederica Mathewes-Green). Green shows that even though abortion is a hard choice to make, she is pro-choice.
After seeing opinions for both pro-choice and pro-life, I pose a question… Is it possible to be neither pro-life nor pro-choice but some sort of a mixture of both? “I have met thousands and thousands of pro-choice men and women. I have never met anyone who is pro-abortion” (Hillary Clinton). Through this quote, I believe that Clinton touches on the fact that there may be an “in-between” standpoint when it comes to abortion.
Although Flipsyde does not say whether they are pro-life or pro-choice, through their song Happy Birthday, they reveal a side to the debate that has yet to be seen. A new way of looking at abortion is revealed through the lyrics of the song:
Please accept my apologies, wonder what would have been
Would you've been a little angel or an angel of sin?
The artist expresses his apologies to the child he might have had and constantly wonders who the child might have been, what he or she would of looked like and how his life would be different if he hadn’t aborted the baby.
I payed for the murder before they determined the sex
Choosing our life over your life meant your death
And you never got a chance to even open your eyes
Sometimes I wonder as a fetus if you faught for your life?
The previous few lines of the lyrics along with the song as a whole bring a strong message and viewpoint to the abortion debate. Although the lyrics portray that the artist consented an abortion, looking back on it he regrets the decision and wonders if it was the right choice. Personally, this song emphasizes the fact that abortion is a decision to be made by the individual couple alone. In some cases it does not simply come down to being pro-choice or pro-life, but a million different contributing factors come into play. For example, income, and the ability to provide a stable loving home for the child, are factors many people ignore. Just because people choose to have abortions does not eliminate the fact that it is probably one of the saddest and most painful things anyone has ever had to do. To me, this song shows the moral struggle between the painful choice to abort and, in return, ending up regretting and questioning whether it was the right thing to do. It shows that abortion is different for everyone, which is an important fact that most people do not even consider.
Flipsyde does not pick a side on the abortion debate in their song Happy Birthday; however, through their lyrics, they force you to reconsider the issue. By doing so, Flipsyde demonstrates the act of speaking freely on an important subject. By being able to speak freely and express their own thoughts and opinions on abortion, they bring a new perspective, which is why we have the freedom of speech in the first place. We have the freedom to introduce new ideas, perspectives and opinions in hope that it will bring change to the world.
Street Law Mini-Project
Essential Question: How do we balance the need for personal privacy (liberty) with the
need to keep a safe, orderly, and just society?
Basic Overview: For this project we looked at our legal rights and protections relating to law enforcement. We looked at situations in which police can legally arrest/detain you both with or without a warrant, the difference between a hunch, reasonable suspicion, probable cause and applied these differences real-life situations. We learned what to do and what not to do when encountering the police, the freedoms and restrictions on police search and seizure (when, where, why and under circumstances a person or item can be searched or "seized"). Lastly we learned that these various protections come directly from the 4th Amendment to the US Constitution. To finish up this chapter in our Humanities class, we created a piece of work expressing our knowledge of these newly learned concepts. Once we created a piece of work, we exhibited it to peers within school.
For my project I chose to focus on your rights as a driver, your street rights and the difference between reasonable suspicion and probable cause. I made a card that you can put into your wallet, the card contains your basic driver rights, street rights, reasonable suspicion, probable cause and the 4th Amendment. I chose to focus on these concepts because I felt that it would be useful to know your rights and be able to look at them when needed. I didn't necessarily have a personal connection to any of these concepts other than the fact that I personally would like to know my rights and have them accessible in certain situations.
If I could explore this aspect further I would want to explore unjust stops made by police officers. I think it would be cool to look at real life scenarios and maybe have a guest speaker who had an unjust encounter with an officer. It would also be beneficial to get the point of view from a police officer and see their side of things instead of just the negative side of police encounters. Oddly enough, I would like to learn more about police brutality. I find it interesting and I would like to learn just how often it happens and what we can do in order to prevent it so that citizens aren't afraid of the people who are supposed to be protecting us.
Overall, I enjoyed this project very much. I feel that the concepts we learned are really useful and will be for the rest of our lives.