Bok Essay

I completely agree with their views that free speech should not be restricted because it is displeasing to others. I also agree that Derek Bok's essay could have used more statistics and personal testimonies from students to strengthen his argument. While I do not agree with hate speech in any way, I feel that it should not be restricted. In doing so, we would be finding just one more way to put blinders on and trying to make the public less aware of the opinions of their fellow countrymen.

I agree with Bok when he says that if we restrict flags that we display, restrictions on speakers will follow shortly. The best way to deal with this kind of a situation on a campus would be to talk to the students about hate speech, not force them to take the flags down. Persuasion is definitely a better choice in this case because then the students would be doing what they wanted to and possibly changing their outlook on the issue. Force, to some students, would be just one more reason to continue displaying the flags.

As a free country, we should be able to say what is on our minds, but each person should also realize that there are certain lines that should be thought carefully about before crossing. Someone that I know had a similar situation. He chose to display Confederate flags on his car, which he was then forced to take off by our high school administrators because it was offensive to so many of the people at our school. Needless to say, whenever he was not parking his car at school, he had the flags right back where they were in the first place. This is a clear example of how force does not change a person's opinion nor does it keep them from continuing their offensive actions.