Jay Sekulow will deliver Constitution Day address at 7:30PM in the Chapel. Co-sponsored by the Alexander Hamilton Institute and the Libertas Americana Project.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
News and commentary about American politics from the students in Govt 116 at Hamilton College.
4 comments:
I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Sekulow's lecture. When I first heard that the topic was academic diversity and freedom, I assumed that because I have already discussed the topic on multiple occasions I would not find it interesting. Mr. Sekulow's lecture, however, was thought-provoking and insightful. After hearing about a few of the many cases he has argued in front of the Supreme Court, I admired his ability to defend freedom of speech, regardless of whether Mr. Sekulow himself personally agreed with his client's views. I was amazed to hear that despite his own political beliefs, Mr. Sekulow has argued for clients representing both sides of extremely controversial issues (such as abortion). If he fails to defend the free speech of those who think differently than he does, Mr. Sekulow pointed out, then he cannot expect to enjoy the same fundamental freedom of speech. Furthermore, Mr. Sekulow believes that open discourse on controversial issues is necessary for our country's growth. In making this point, Mr. Sekulow emphasized the idea of civility in discourse. While "heckling" should be protected under the law, he finds it an impediment to civil discourse. He brought up the Florida pastor who threatened to burn the Koran as an example of such legal but "ridiculous" actions.
I appreciated that Mr. Sekulow did not hesitate to express his personal views, but did so in a way that did not impose those views on the audience. In a sense, Mr. Sekulow not only "talked the talk" by speaking of the importance of open discourse, but also "walked the walk" in the context of his own lecture. He explained that both voicing one's opinions and understanding other's opposing views is crucial to maintaining freedom. When one audience member brought up the issue of people who hold hateful views (such as Hitler) and questioned how allowing those peoples to express their views could promote freedom, Mr. Sekulow responded that we must allow them to speak; however, sometimes not listening is the way to silence hateful views. While anyone may speak their mind, no one is forced to listen. Sekulow used his recent trip to China as an interesting example of a country that is still grappling with these concepts of liberty and freedom. He mentioned at one point, a well-respected Chinese judge said to him, "We like the idea of religious freedom, but we just want to control it." Seeing how we may not take our constitutional freedoms for granted, we must dedicate ourselves to defending freedom of speech in all its forms, for the future of our country depends on it.
Finally, Mr. Sekulow was a great public speaker. I was engaged the entire time, which says a lot about his ability to speak clearly and effectively. I noticed that Mr. Sekulow paused when he made his big points, which really allowed me to digest the information and stay connected with him. He also was clearly passionate about his subject matter, which kept me interested because he often raised his voice or used grand hand gestures to drive his point across. I felt that I learned a lot about effective public speaking through listening to his lecture.
Post a Comment