In my eyes, there is no “black and white” scenario when dealing with freedom of expression. This term, presented to Americans by the Founding Fathers, grants people the right to freely express their own opinions and ideas. Although this seems very innocent, there have been an extremely large number of instances where multiple interpretations of this idea have been argued, causing lots of violence and controversy.

            Many people feel that freedom of expression enables them to say or do anything they want, literally.  An example of this would be the burning of the American flag. I disagree with this statement to a certain extent. Susan Brownmiller makes a very good point in “Let’s Put Pornography Back in the Closet” by discussing how something that is not always appropriate, such as pornography, should be censored from the general public’s eyes rather than banned. (Brownmiller 61). That way, people who support inappropriate things such as porn can express their thoughts in a more appropriate environment. This gives the viewers a free choice of whether or not to enter those websites. However, there are many instances where porn is not censored, such as on the television. I believe the industry does not belong on there because in many instances, television involves an audience of multiple people.

            In the article “Protecting Freedom of Speech on Campus,” Derek Bok makes an interesting point about censorship. He disagrees that censorship should prevent people from getting offended but feels that campus police are needed for protecting people (Bok 69). I agree with his views to a certain extent. I feel, in some cases, that offending people can be very beneficial because it can expose someone to a different perspective on things. An example of this would be someone criticizing a southern racist person, arguing how African Americans have created ingenious genres of music and literature that play a huge role in America today. Other times, criticizing people to a certain extent is very harmful to certain groups of society. An example of this is the recent murders involving Charlie Hebdo in France. The people who killed these 12 people who considered themselves Muslims hurt the rest of true Muslims to a certain extent. They failed to realize that these cartoons were only to help educate the public about the silly reasons of pastime war in the Middle East. Their actions added to that of 9/11, oppressing Muslims all around the world.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/je-suis-charlie-charlie-trends-post-terror-attack-article-1.2068780