Paulo Legaspi
October 27, 2010
Speech 6 M W
Fleming
Resolved: In this instance justice is being denied.
Observation I: Context and Definitions
A. Context- With the recent cases of suicides, primarily young homosexual males,
punishment wasn’t given to the bullies who have victimized those individuals.
B. Definitions
1. According to www.dictionary.com, instance is defined as an example.
2. Justice is defined as the administering of deserved punishment or reward.
3. Denied is defined as to refuse to agree or accede to.
Observation II: Criteria and Value
If the Gov team can show that invasion an individual’s personal space and privacy,
constantly bombarding them with slander, and in result affecting their psychological state of
mind causing them to commit suicide is justified for punishment, then they win. If OPP can show
that taking into consideration of the First Amendment, the Freedom of Speech and the bullies not
physically hurting them, then they win.
Contention I—Bullies violate First Amendment.
1. According to www.latimes.com; Seth Walsh, age 13, committed suicide
because he was bullied for being homosexual. Students would invade his
personal space and would often bump into him as they walked through the
school hallways. This is a clear example of invasion of personal space, which
psychologically affected Seth’s behavior around others.
2. Along with the physical attacks, Seth received hate messages on his phone
and his MySpace page was defaced with pornography and demonic symbols.
Although the First Amendment does allow free speech, in Seth’s case, his
bullies crossed the line by publicly humiliating him with obscene words and
images over the internet.
Contention II—Bullies violate Communications Decency Act and Invasion of Privacy.
1. Along with what the bullies did, they violated the Communications Decency
Act (CDA) which prohibits individuals from showing indecency over the
internet. Similar to Seth’s situation, Tyler Clementi was victimized by his
roommates when they broadcasted his sexual encounter with another male
using a webcam.
2. According to www.latimes.com; Clementi’s death sparked a light on cyberbullying and thus initiating a call for stricter laws against using the internet for
harassment. Besides the CDA, the Supreme Court passed the Child Online
Protection Act which declared purpose of restricting access by minors to
material that is harmful on the internet.
3. www.USLegal.com defines invasion of privacy is the intrusion into the
personal life of another, without just cause, which gives the right to bring a
lawsuit for the person that intruded. Reiterating Tyler’s case, this proves that
his roommates should receive punishment for invading his privacy and for
him losing his life.
Contention III—In this instance justice is being denied, and therefore justice will be settled if
those bullies receive punishment.
1. The families of the victims will see to it that the bullies who harassed their
child receive their justice.
2. Punishment for those well deserved bullies will create a possible end to all
forms of bullying.
Work Cited
Cornell University Law School. “Obscenity”. http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/obscenity, 19
August 2010. Web. 24 October 2010.
---. “First Amendment”. http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/First_amendment, 19 August 2010.
Web. 24 October 2010.
Curwen, Thomas. “Gay teen endured a daily gantlet”. latimes.com, 8 October 2010. Web. 24
October 2010.
Reuters, “New Jersey campus mourns suicide of student in cyber case”. latimes.com, 3 October
2010. Web. 24 October 2010.
USLegal. “Invasion of Privacy Law & Legal Definition”. http://definitions.uslegal.com/invasionof-privacy/. Web. 27 October 2010.