First Amendment: America Versus Germany

This amendment is by far the biggest reason’s tens of thousands of people flock to America each year. Let’s discuss America’s First Amendment which is part are the United States Constitution and what this amendment encompasses. this amendment gives us the freedom to choose and display and practice whichever religion we so choose without prejudiced. There is also the ability to have freedom of press we in America are allowed to talk as much trash or praise about our government about companies without the fear a retaliation.

coupled with freedom of speech to be able to openly discuss are opinions with anybody at any place and that is a very important piece of this amendment. If a comedian wants to make a joke, they have every right to say what they choose to it may be in bad taste or maybe hilarious, but they have the right. Another portion of this amendment is that people have the right to Peaceful assembly. Which means the American people no matter who you are can come together and March or occupy to be able to make a point or try to change a situation which I would have called peaceful fighting.

This part of the amendment has been practiced very much in the last 4 years and it doesn’t matter if you are for or against the marches but under this amendment these people have every right to do so. Another facet of this amendment is the right to petition which states that’s a people can appeal to the government for or against a policy that may affect them in some way or some policy that they feel strongly against. And we’ve seen this part of the amendment going to affect the few times in the last year I get as well. We’ve also seen this part of the amendment used for humorous reasons like when we got a hundred thousand signatures for the president Obama to build a Death Star. It didn’t work the fact that we could do it is something a lot of other countries don’t have.

Now Germany has something called Article 5 freedom of expression and I would say it’s not true freedom. Article 5 says that freedom of expression is insured within their constitution, but it also says that the media ‘ are largely free and independent’. which pretty much means if there is any type of hate speech or racism or anti-Semitism, that these things are punishable by law and if anything Advocates Nazism or something that denies the Holocaust or even if ideas of Hitler are in some way glorified, they can be arrested. now I guess these things are wrong but in America if you wanted to make a movie about any of these things or make a video and post it online you have every right to do so people might not like you but there is no punishment towards it.

They state that they have freedom of religion and that any belief is protected legally. however, some states in Germany have made it illegal for schoolteachers and civil servants to wear head scarves and I do believe some states in America try to make as far as illegal but under our freedom of religion they ended up failing. Another part of this article is that their educational system is free from extensive political indoctrination which means the government won’t force their people to believe in a certain way and make all schools teach it but if people in schools and universities speak on Extreme issues they may get in trouble. They also have a freedom of assembly but again if the people end up advocating some type of hate or opposing a democratic order, they can be jailed.

These are some of the key comparisons and differences between America and Germany and the amount of Freedom that the both are people have. I for one feel that a lot of different countries should adopt America’s First Amendment because no government should be able to decide what people think or say or portray and media. And to do so is what I believe a form of Oppression. People deserve their ability to be free thinking and free speaking and all aspects of their life and like I said earlier you might not agree with that you might not accept it but that’s what makes the First Amendment so great is that everybody has the ability to do so.