Freedom of speech was one of the main reasons that the recent terror attacks in Paris occurred. The Charlie Hebdo artists knew that the cartoon was going to anger the Muslim community, but they published it anyway. Pope Francis is one of the people who believe that freedom of religion is more important than freedom of speech.¹ He also thought that the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists shouldn’t have provoked the Muslim community by drawing something that did not respect their religion. In my opinion, freedom of speech does not give one the right to offend people, and it should be limited.

The first reason that freedom of speech does not give one the right to offend people is because it is the straight pathway to conflict. Freedom of speech is like a piece of thin ice; if you make one little scratch or mark, it will fall apart into many pieces. Our country should be full of love and happiness, not conflict. If everybody goes around offending people, nobody would have any friends. There could also be many situations where the conversation ends up in punching and fighting because of offensive comments. To avoid all this conflict, freedom of speech should be limited and in my opinion, it does not give one the right to offend people.

The second reason why freedom of speech does not give one the right to offend people is because of the First Amendment. The First Amendment states that the Congress cannot make laws against freedom of religion, speech, peacefully assemble, petition, and press. The Founding Fathers added the first amendment for the government to come up with fresh and new ideas. They definitely did not want people going around offending people and creating conflict. The biggest reason of why the Founding Fathers created the First Amendment is for the people and the government to come up with fresh ideas to improve the country, not for offending people. That is why freedom of speech does not give one the right to offend people.

Although not offending people is very important, speaking your mind and saying what you believe in is also essential. If people did not speak out their mind and criticize other people, no one would be able to improve and people would feel very restricted. Not offending people is more important because there are examples of this everywhere. At school, there are posters taped on the wall telling you to be respectful to your peers and not to tease or offend people. There are never posters telling you to criticize people. There are also laws that limit freedom of speech. Some examples of the types of speech that aren’t allowed are obscenity, fighting words, and lies that tarnish someone’s reputation.² Even though the United States is a democracy and is a free country, there always needs to be a limit for everything, and freedom of speech is a controversial topic that requires a limitation.

In my opinion, I believe that freedom of speech does not give one the right to offend people and I have many reasons to support my opinion. My first reason is that it leads to conflict almost instantly, and my second reason is that the Founding Fathers had their reasons to create the First Amendment, and it did not include criticizing people. Although speaking your mind and saying what you believe in is important, there are laws against criticism and everyone around you are encouraging you to be respectful to your peers. If everyone was respectful to each other, the United States would be happy and conflict free country. That is why freedom of speech does not give one the right to offend people, and it should be limited.