First Amendment Blog

  The First Amendment is a topic of discussion that only people in movies seem to know about. You have seen those scenes where the people are like “I know my rights; I have freedom of speech or the right to petition”; or something along those lines. However, how much do people really know about the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment and how they apply in real life situations? I was interested to find out, so I decided to ask a few close family/friends how much knowledge they knew about the first Amendment. For this assignment I asked three people if they could name the five freedoms that were granted by the First Amendment or whether they could correctly identify the extent of protection that freedom of the press receives in a defamation case.  

The first person that I asked was Person A who is 59 years old. I asked person A if they could name the five freedoms that are guaranteed by the First Amendment. Person A’s response was that they knew that Freedom of Speech was one of the five freedoms. When asked if they could name any more of the freedoms, they had a hard time naming any more of them. However, they came close by saying that they knew that we had the right to march and go against something that was not right. These types of acts would fall under the right to petition but it was not a freedom that they could remember to name. Person A also could not explain or identify the extent of protection that freedom of the press receives in a defamation case. 

The next person that I asked was Person B who is 60 years old. I asked Person B if they could name the five freedoms that are guaranteed by the First Amendment. Person B’s response was that he did not know any of the freedoms from the First Amendment. They also could not identify how much protection the freedom of the press receives in a defamation case. Most of the responses from Person B regarding the five freedoms were examples of more general acts such as the right to go where you please and eat where you want to. These acts were not necessarily in accordance with the Five freedoms that are guaranteed from the First Amendment. 

The third person that I asked was Person C who is 33 years old. I asked Person C if they could name the five freedoms that are guaranteed by the First Amendment. Person C’s response was freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press, freedom to assemble, and freedom to redress grievances (which falls under the right to petition). When I asked Person C if they could correctly identify the extent of protection that freedom of the press receives in a defamation case their response was, “I feel it protects them from false information against one’s name or character”. 

I can honestly say that the people that I asked answers from were not exactly what I expected. I thought that people would be more knowledgeable of the five basic Freedoms. People nearly 60 years or older could on average name one of the freedoms but could not name any more or go into detail about when and how to apply them. People who are in their twenties and thirties could name more of the freedoms and explain the extent of protection that freedom of the press receives in a case of defamation. I think that the age gap plays a key role in how well the First Amendment is remembered and perceived. People who are older may not be in touch with things that they probably haven’t discussed since school days while people who are younger may remember more because they are in school or have just left school. Overall, I feel that the topic of discussion about The First Amendment should be in recollection of everyone's mind not just in a school or academic setting. Knowing of the five freedoms: speech, press, religion, assembly, petition and how they are used can prove to be beneficial at some point in life; especially when the extent of your rights is being questioned.