"Everyone is breaking the law lol"?

Question

THIS IS NOT MY OPINION

An acquaintance of mine was talking about how people "break laws". He's talking about the first ammendment in how "freedom of speech, religion, blah blah blah... shall not be abridged" and stuff. Like, in classrooms teachers tell students to be quiet. This happened to a guy I knew once: A guy had a family problem and was really stressed so he had to talk it out. The teacher tells him to be quiet and he responds saying that he has a right to freedom of speech. The teacher says things like "That applies only when you are expressing your opinion not how much you talk" and stuff.

I'm really confused on this matter. Can someone explain?

Answer 1

It means you can say whatever you want particularly about political matters. If a teacher or a librarian or something like that says to quiet, that does not violate freedom of speech.
An example of a place without free speech would be a place where you could get the death penalty if you critisise the leader.
Here we can critisise anyone we wish without fear of being arrested for it. The teacher is right.

Answer 2

There is a giant misconception about what the First Ammendment to the Constitution applies to. The 1st Ammendment only applies to the Government regulation of the free exchange of ideas. It does not apply to private settings, workplaces, or any other setting. In other words, you are free to set up a meeting, rent a hall, and discuss your hatred of the government, taxes, or your next door neighbor and the government can do absolutely nothing about it. However, your boss can fire you for setting up the meeting, because he really likes your neighbor, and he has the right to do so. That is not a violation of free speech, because the 1st Ammendment ONLY applies to the Government. A teacher can tell you to shut up in class, because you may be disrupting the other students learning, or the teacher's lecture. You do not have the right to disrupt a class or any other type of thing. Just like you can be arrested for yelling "FIRE" in a crowded theater, because that causes panic and is contrary to the well-being of the public.
So to reiterate, the !st Ammenment ONLY applies to the government's attempts to regulate speech, meetings, ect. NOT to private parties rights to regulate same.

Answer 3

There are reasonable limits to expression.

Some actions are considered expressive and protected by the Free Speech clause in the First Amendment, including flag burning. However, I cannot say that I have a right to freely expressive my point of view by painting it onto the school building.

Generally the line will fall along the lines of what is reasonable and what is not.