The First Amendment

You should be glad we have it

On December 15, 1791 the United states adopted the first of the ten amendments that would be known as the Bill of Rights. The first amendment states, ““Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”. This amendment exists to this day and protects the American people from having certain freedoms taken away from them. 

In the United States, we encourage our people to speak of anything they wish even if it is negative towards their government. It is written so that the government cannot interfere with our beliefs and the way we choose to express ourselves. Although we have this freedom, the first amendment does not protect those from putting ourselves or others in harm's way with our speech.This exception is not to inhibit those but to protect them which is why the amendments were created so early on. 

A Yuhan woman of China posted a video to the internet regarding what she acknowledged as “this pneumonia virus in Wuhan” that was striking her country. As the video progresses, she speaks of how it affects her family, friends, and the people around her. Unlike with anything else, these people being affected by the virus could not buy medicine or be admitted to the hospitals even if they had money to spend due to the government. In addition to how the government is handling the virus, she also expresses that unlike Hong Kong and Taiwan they do not have freedom. 

In the heart wrenching video, she cries, “not a single person can speak freely and if anyone speaks of the truth they”ll be caught by the police.” In China, the people are not protected by the rights that we have in the United States. It is punishable by incarceration and even death to speak freely especially that of anything negative towards the government. Chinese citizens face the issue of censorship making it extremely easy to find the citizens that do speak out against the government. This woman spoke out in fear of her life to get the message out to her fellow citizens, a fear that no American will ever have to face. The truth of the matter is China did not want anyone to know of what was happening in their country as a result of the Virus that began in Wuhan. If the citizens were able to speak freely as Americans can, us as a country might have been more prepared as to what was about to affect us as well. The virus no longer is detained in China, it is spreading across different countries, and the death toll is rising with no way to cure the people infected. 
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html