Who Gets to Regulate #*%& Free Speech in Popular Culture?

January 18, 2024
(11 min.)
Has lesson plan
Updated

When speech offends, who decides where boundaries should be drawn?

The question of whether ideas expressed in popular culture can be harmful to children has a long history. “People have been complaining about popular culture since ancient Greece,” Karen Sternheimer, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California, told Retro Report. “There are quotes from Plato about the violence in Greek tragedies and their effect on kids. Aristotle disagreed. It really raises the question of, how do we know? How do we define harm?”

In the 1950s, concern about crime, sex and horror in comic books, fueled in part by some flawed research, led to strict limits on words and images. In 1954, publishers formed the Comics Code Authority. Stories and artwork had to be submitted to the organization for approval.

“There were smaller publishers that chose to go out of business rather than try to comply with the code,” historian Carol Tilley told us. “It was an industry regulating itself, taking away its provocative edges and dulling them for a very long time.”

Then in the 1980s, a well-connected group of parents, led by Tipper Gore and Susan Baker, raised alarms over sex, drugs and violence in rock lyrics, and the music industry responded with warning labels.

Today on college campuses, some students are seeking to cancel speakers with controversial opinions, and are calling for warnings on potentially sensitive course materials. Bailey Loverin sponsored a student resolution at the University of California, Santa Barbara, calling for trigger warnings on course syllabi to alert students who have had a traumatic experience like sexual abuse.

“A trigger warning or a content warning kind of warns the person that, hey, this is coming up. You’re going to deal with some tricky stuff. Make sure you’re ready for it,” she said.

In this video, we explore efforts to set boundaries on free speech when some people find it offensive.

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Previous versions
At Retro Report, we update our journalism as news unfolds. Here are the previous published versions of this story.
For teachers
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For Educators

Subjects
Civics and Government English Language Arts U.S. History
Topics
1950s 1980s 1990s 2000s Bill of Rights Congress Constitution Politics Sociology 
Introduction

The question of whether ideas expressed in popular culture can be harmful to children has a history stretching back to Plato and Aristotle. In the 1950s, concern about crime, sex and horror in comic books led to strict limits under the Comics Code Authority. Then in the 1980s, a well-connected group of parents raised alarms over sex, drugs and violence in rock lyrics, and the music industry responded with warning labels. This lesson explores meanings and forms of censorship and the beliefs that drive them, up to and including recent “trigger warning” initiatives, and what it all means for free expression and academic freedom. 

If used in a U.S. History class, this lesson best fits with other historical examples of limitations of free speech. In a Government/Civics class, the lesson best fits with free speech and Constitutional rights debates. In an English Language Arts class, the lesson best fits the limitations of freedom of expression by artists, writers and content creators.

Lesson Plan 1: Free Speech, Censorship and Trigger Warnings
Free Speech, Censorship and Trigger Warnings
Free Speech, Censorship and Trigger Warnings
Overview
▼

Students will examine historical examples of the limitation of free speech and the use of censorship, including warning labels and trigger warnings.

Objectives
▼

Students will:

  • Draw on historical and contemporary examples to examine limits on freedom of expression and the use of censorship, including warning labels and trigger warnings.
Essential questions
▼
  • What limits if any should there be on what children are exposed to from popular culture? Who should set those limits and make those decisions?
  • How does popular culture affect people? How is popular culture affected by people?
Additional resources
▼
Standards
▼

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

  • D1.2.9-12. Explain points of agreement and disagreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question.
  • D1.5.9-12. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.
  • D2.Civ.9.9-12. Use appropriate deliberative processes in multiple settings.  
  • D2.Civ.10.9-12. Analyze the impact and the appropriate roles of personal interests and perspectives on the application of civic virtues, democratic principles, constitutional rights, and human rights. 
  • D2.Civ.13.9-12. Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences. 
  • D2.Civ.14.9-12. Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights. 
  • D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context. 
  • D2.His.7.9-12. Explain how the perspectives of people in the present shape interpretations of the past. 
  • D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources. 
  • D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events
    in developing a historical argument. 

Common Core Literacy Standards

  • D1.5.9-12. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.
  • D3.2.6-8. Evaluate the credibility of a source by determining its relevance and intended use. 
  • D3.3.9-12. Identify evidence that draws information directly and substantively from multiple sources to detect inconsistencies in evidence in order to revise or strengthen claims. 
  • D4.1.6-8. Construct arguments using claims and evidence from multiple sourc- es, while acknowledging the strengths and limitations of the arguments. 
  • D4.3.6-8. Present adaptations of arguments and explanations on topics of interest to others to reach audiences and venues outside the classroom using print and oral technologies (e.g., posters, essays, letters, debates, speeches, reports, and maps) and digital technologies (e.g., Internet, social media, and digital documentary).
  • D4.4.9-12. Critique the use of claims and evidence in arguments for credibility. 
  • D4.8.6-8. Apply a range of deliberative and democratic procedures to make decisions and take action in their classrooms and schools, and in out-of-school civic contexts. 
Lesson Plan 2: Who Gets to Regulate #*%&? Free Speech in Popular Culture (E.L.A.)
Who Gets to Regulate #*%&? Free Speech in Popular Culture (E.L.A.)
Who Gets to Regulate #*%& Free Speech in Popular Culture? (E.L.A.)
Overview
▼

Students will analyze free speech and how it applies to popular culture.

Objectives
▼

Students will:

  • Analyze free speech and how it applies to popular culture.
  • Create a list of challenges against free speech and organize them into a timeline.
  • Research and present on a challenge to free speech/censorship incident.
Essential questions
▼
  • What are free speech and censorship and how have these ideas been in opposition over time?
  • When is speech harmful and who gets to determine what qualifies as harm?
  • How have aspects of popular culture been challenged over time and how have our views about those challenges changed?
Additional resources
▼
Standards
▼

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

  • D2.Civ.12.9-12. Analyze how people use and challenge local, state, national, and international laws to address a variety of public issues.
  • D2.Civ.14.9-12. Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.
  • D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

Common Core Literacy Standards

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.2: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.1: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.4: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.