Susan Jacoby First Amendment Junkie Summary

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Susan Jacoby is a self-proclaimed "first amendment junkie" as she clearly states in her essay. What she is trying to portray is that she believes that the first amendment is the most important within the bill of rights, and that each individual should be able to take responsibility for their words. Having the first amendment regulated by any institution diminishes the speech that remains. Jacoby discusses the pornographic business throughout her essay, and the feminist who oppose their existence. A particularly interesting comment she makes is oddly specific towards the issues being brought up in the news lately about protest and neo-Nazis, "…it is ridiculous to suggest that the porn shops on 42nd Street are more disgusting to women than a …show more content…

80) is inconsiderate to the induvial who is slated to be executed. To imply that the money being spent should be used to provide some form of media entertainment to the public is an inhumane thought. Inmate’s should have the option to have their execution be open to the public or not, much in the same way that an individual can donate their body to science after they die, this could provide the people with an educational experience that may not otherwise be made available to the public. Anyone involved with the process of sentencing someone to the death penalty should have a requirement to watch a pre-recorded or live session of an execution happening, so they understand the consequences of their decision. To one point made in Shemtob’s essay “[o]f greater concern is the possibility that broadcasting executions could have a numbing effect” (Shemtob p. 81) the release of executions publicly could lead to people losing their reservations about the thought of killing another person, though that could be said already with the amount of violence portrayed in media today. I think access to records regarding executions are more important to the taxpayers than being able to watch an

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