The Growing Threat To Civil Liberties
The United States has long been respected for the principled thoroughness with which it has upheld the right to freedom of speech embodied in the first amendment to the constitution. We owe part of our own freedom of speech to the Americans who have upheld freedom of speech on the Internet against pressure from other countries who are angry that their citizens can call up forms of speech banned at home. The US consistently refuses to sign international agreements that would infringe the purity of its own constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech.
It is thus distressing to read in David Bernstein’s excellent book how anti-discrimination laws are being used to undermine civil liberties, such as the freedom of speech, in the very home of liberty itself. The US courts have in the past upheld freedom of speech, even where it might seem to encourage crime or subversion, but they have allowed anti-discrimination laws to over-rule freedom of speech. Once again the drive for equality is revealed as the greatest enemy of individual freedom.
One of the most striking examples of this is the substantial numbers of individuals who have been sacked (and also in consequence lost their medical care) because their employer’s lawyers were afraid that remarks that these individuals had made might lead to some other indignant and affronted employee suing the employer for allowing them to be subjected to a ‘hostile work environment’. A member of a legally privileged ‘minority’ might well then be awarded vast damages for some trivial remark. In consequence employers now even snoop on conversations and e-mails between two friendly consenting employees lest they contain a comment which might be unco...
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...ights, but she was only awarded one dollar plus her costs. It sums up the priorities of PC AmSoc America. A trivial anti- discrimination claim is worth a million times as much as freedom of speech and expression.
David Bernstein is to be congratulated on so clearly, vividly, analytically and accurately showing seriousness of these new threats to free speech and civil liberties in the US. The Cato Institute also deserves credit for publishing the book since in Bernstein’s words ‘authors who take politically incorrect positions . . . face a particularly difficult time finding publishers among leading trade presses’ (p. ix). Cato at least is still the land of the free and the home of the brave.
You Can't Say That: The Growing Threat To Civil Liberties From Antidiscrimination Laws Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 180pp., ISBN: 1 930 865 538, $20.00 (hb), 2003
Over the past 15 years tremendous awareness has been raised around this and programs of preferential treatment emerged. These programs ensured equal rights for people of color and females in the work place, allowing for them to apply for executive level positions and earn the same amount of money, benefits, and prestige as a white male ensuring equality for all race and sex. Lisa Newton argues that, “reverse discrimination does not advance but actually undermines equality because it violates the concept of equal justice under law for all citizens. In addition, to this theoretical objection to reverse discrimination, Newton opposes it because she believes it raises insoluble problems.” Among them are determining what groups have been sufficiently discriminated against in the past to deserve preferred treatment in the present and determining the degree of reverse discrimination that will be compensatory. Newton outlines the importance of ensuring her argument is recognized as logically distinct from the condition of justice in the political sense. She begins her argument for reverse discrimination as unjustified by addressing the “simple justice” claim requiring that we favor women and blacks in employment and education opportunities. Since women and blacks were unjustly excluded from such opportunities for so many years in the not so distant past, however when employers and schools favor women and blacks, the same injustice is done. This reverse discrimination violates the public equality which defines citizenship and destroys the rule of law for the areas in which these favors are granted. To the extent that we adopt a program of discrimination, reverse or otherwise, justice in the political sense is destroyed, and none of us, specifically affected or no is a citizen, as bearers of rights we are all petitioners
All throughout history civil liberties have been established, fought for, and abused. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, the civil liberties in the United States of America were tested. There were many events where the freedoms that our founding fathers had fought for Passive Voice (consider revising). Prejudice, fear, and racism all played a role during these events, during many of which they decided the outcome. Two events that demonstrate when the civil liberties in America were tested were during the trial of Sacco and Vanzettii and Schenek v. United States.
The opinions of the citizens seems to be taken very lightly in the dystopian society. According to Beatty, "Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against" (58). These “mountains” in society are known as “free thinkers” for they think at a higher level and question their surroundings more. The fact that the law disallows this freedom of speech proves the First Amendment to the United States Constitution to be nonexistent. In recent cases, a book, ‘The Hindus’, is pulled from the shelves of India due to a decision by publishing house Penguin after a 2011 civil lawsuit was filed against them. As stated by the critics, the book contained, “several unforgivable discretions.” Jairam Ramesh, the Union minister, claims that this is an “atrocious decision” and that “such action is clearly some Taliban-type outfit.” These circumstances definitely manifest the similarities that are starting to show in our world.
Civil rights is a topic which is on everyone’s tongues a majority of the time. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the spotlight was on racial equality. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was gender equality that dominated the stage. In the modern day, it has shifted to same-sex rights. There is always a battle to live up to what America’s forefathers had dreamed of for this country: total equality in society. While it is an uphill battle more often than not, those who push for equality gain enough momentum to succeed in an ever-changing world. The long fight against gender discrimination in the education system is highlighted by the important case in Grove City College v Bell, the effects of the verdict of that case between 1984 and 1987, the passing of the Civil Rights Restoration Act, and how Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act has evolved in the modern day.
...rst two letters of the name Pluto-was chosen as the planet’s astronomical symbol. Unfortunately, we learn later that Lowell’s Planet X theory is incorrect. In 1978, Pluto’s mass was found with the discovery of Charon, Pluto’s moon. Pluto, being a small planet, would have weak gravity. Therefore, this diminutive gravity could not affect the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. The International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006. It was also revealed later that the strange orbits of Uranus and Neptune were due to the erroneous value of Neptune’s mass.
4. This is a site about Pluto. http://dosxx.colorado.edu/plutohome.html It is reliable since it is a part of an established academic institution.
Although Pluto was discovered in 1930, limited information on the distant planet delayed a realistic understanding of its characteristics. Today Pluto remains the only planet that has not been visited by a spacecraft, yet an increasing amount of information is unfolding about this peculiar planet. The uniqueness of Pluto's orbit, rotational relationship with its satellite, spin axis, and light variations all give the planet a certain appeal.
Originally discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh Pluto was deemed the ninth planet in the solar system, however in 2006 it was demoted to “dwarf planet” or plutoid status. As of late the public’s interest in the demotion of Pluto has waned significantly. The media’s interest of the demotion of Pluto spiked with the official ruling in Prague containing the public’s reception of the decision, and again when a book written by Mike Brown appeared in 2010. Originally controversy ensued with positive and negative views of the decision but as time went on only the positive view was present in the media.
The earliest referenced article that discusses the controversy over Pluto’s planetary status came from The Globe and Mail and was titled “What In The World” on January 27, 2001. At this time, many astro...
"Pluto Demoted from Planetary Status." Historic World Events. Detroit: Gale, 2011.Student Resources in Context. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
This project for Earth Science proved to be quite engaging. At first, I thought that the project was going to be long and arduous, however, being able to choose my topic for the project actually helped in galvanizing interest in it. Through this project, I learned a whole lot about the Jovian planets that fascinated me when I was a child. From gargantuan Jupiter, ringed Saturn, peculiar Uranus, and stormy Neptune, I learned many facts that I couldn’t discover outside of Earth Science. I learned many facts like how the Jovian planets got their colors, and whether or not Gas Giants are solely made of gas. I enjoy the fact that we are able to choose what we want to research about, choosing what interests us the most. Thanks to this project, I feel that I know just a bit more about the vast amount of knowledge of our Universe.
our solar system, but they are unimportant compared to the nine major planets. In this paper I will discuss the planets and how they are each unique.
Freedom of speech cannot be considered an absolute freedom, and even society and the legal system recognize the boundaries or general situations where the speech should not be protected. Along with rights comes civil responsib...
Discrimination has been around for decades. Many would agree that discrimination built on race, gender, religion and ethnicity it is a violation of the value of equality and it morally wrong. “The
Demography is the study of the components of population variation and change. Death rate and birth rate are two determinants of population change. Theory of Demographic Transition is comparatively recent theory that has been accepted by several scholars throughout the world. This theory embraces the observation that all countries in the world go through different stages in the growth of population. A nation's economy and level of development is directly related to that nation's birth and death rates. Population history can be divided into different stages. Some of the scholars have divided it into three and some scholars have divided it into five stages. These stages or classifications demonstrate a transition from high birth and high death rates to low birth and low death rates. The Theory of Demographic Transition suggests that all nations begin in stage one as underdeveloped, third world nations and through time transition into first world nations. Firstly this theory was developed based on the statistic collected in many European countries. In this theory, birth rate and death rate are considered to be the major factors or demographic events for bringing change in population.