Reading Journal Literature & Language Essay Paper

Tim Wu’s “Is the First Amendment Obsolete”: An Analysis Name:
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Reading journal
Question One.
Wu understands the significance of the First Amendment as it relates to American history. From this perspective, he is wary that the core intentions of the policy are not reflected in the 21st century. Wu tries to enlighten the public of the numerous avenues and ways governments are working to control speech. There is an emerging threat to free speech with press getting harassed, government interfering with public debates, and speech being discredited. Wu tries to open the public’s eyes and make them understand that the environment has a different set of rules. The logic of internet censorship operates differently than the heyday of print or even broadcast television. With this in mind, he poses the question, “when it comes to political speech in the twenty-first century, is the First Amendment obsolete?” CITATION TIM17 \l 1033 (WU)
Question 2
The significant changes are not only the scarcity of speech but also the attention of the listeners. In the 20th century, the main threat to the speech environment was the state suppression of dissidents. Therefore, the First Amendment shaped up to protect the speakers from the government during that era. However, in today’s world, information is abundant. Numerous speakers have platforms to publish information directly to the public which makes it easy t spark public debate and controversy. While this is a good thing, the opposite result has made it easy for anyone to weaponize speech to counter or discredit another speech. It is clear something needs to be done to protect the First Amendment or concede that it isn’t suited for this era. For this to happen, people need to have discussions, develop better social norms and journ...