Santa Clause is taking you to hell. Santa Clause is to blame for the economys fait.

Dont leave your kids with this red fright, just like the priests, hell rape em at night (Raised to Hate, 2010, para. 5). What is our classic Christmas song, Santa is coming to town, the Westboro Baptist Church has turned the song into a ranting of hate. Keep in mind though; we have the freedom of speech to say whatever we want. We have earned this. Centuries have worked through repression to come this far, and still we have issues today. Clearly, it is a tricky topic, but it all began with the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment, influenced by Hobbes and Locke, impacted the French Revolution and can be seen and used in todays issues such as freedom of speech. The Crusades led to the renaissance which represented the rebirth of thinkers. The world was opened up to new possibilities. To enlighten is defined as to give intellectual or spiritual light. The age of Enlightenment embodies this definition completely. This really began with the men. Hobbes and Locke believed in a social contract. They believed the ruler should have rules to abide by just like the people do. If they do not, the people have the right to overthrow them. It was Locke who even took it a step further. He believed there were three rights everyone was entitled to which he called Natural Rights: life, liberty, and property (p. 405). With a whole new range of ideas, eventually basic freedoms were extended to the people. People were truly enlightened by all of these changes, and it continued on with the French Revolution. In 1789, the French began their journey to reach their own freedoms. The background on the situation is essential to understand. There were three estates. The first two were made up of the clergy and nobility only representing about three percent of the population combined. Meanwhile, the third estate contained the middle and lower class which held 97 percent of the population. Each estate was like one vote, so when important issues were up for debate, they

would always end in the wealthy estates favor. This would be a violation of liberty. It was simply unfair that their opinions did not matter. Even just with the taxes both the clergy and nobles did not have to pay, yet the majority of the population, which was poor, had to pay them. Then, the Palace of Versailles was built. This really caused uproar with the common people. While they were starving on the streets, they were building this magnificent palace with so much more space than they needed. That was a violation of property and even life. People kept Lockes ideas in mind, and once they realized those violations, they started to do something about it. The storming of Bastille signified this. The peasants and everyday people joined together for what they believed in. There they got weapons to defend against the royal troops. It was a turning point for the lower class people to stand up for equality. The book specifically stated, The outbreak of violence by the people of Paris led to the formation of a new government for the city (p. 426). Eventually it paid off with the National Assembly. The French Revolution ended with new basic rights stated in the Declaration of the Rights of Man: liberty, equality, and fraternity. More and more people heard of this and began to fight for their own rights. Here we are today having come so far, but there are still milestones to achieve. The historical development continued on with Voltaire. In the text, World History: People & Nations, his statement, I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it, all encompasses the central ideas of enlightenment (p. 417). People wanted freedom. That includes the freedom of speech. This has become an even greater debate as people push limits and possibly cross the line. The fact is people have the right to say anything. Just like Voltaire said, although I completely disagree with some of the protests and the terrible things the Westboro Baptist Church said, I support the freedom of speech. There should not be a line that puts control on that right. The solution would be to increase the consequences. If people are

shouting offensive things at a gay persons funeral than make boundaries so then if they crossed them they would be breaking the law. This is why order is becoming of more important. People value their equality and freedom but realize order is the only way to achieve this successfully. Hobbes and Lockes ideas impacted the French Revolution and today are even debated with the freedom of speech. Lockes life, liberty and property enlightened the world to change which impacted the world forever. I feel like we take for granted these basic freedoms because we havent experienced even just one day without them. I cannot imagine being at a point where I would choose death of life. That is was some people did though. Guys like the one who lit himself on fire because he had had enough repression from his government. This went worldwide and people began to revolt. This is known as the Arab Spring. I personally cannot think of something I feel that strongly about. At the same time, I am under 18. My vote does not count, and I do not get a say. Because I am not an adult I feel like these issues do not affect me as much. The fact is, they do and will. College loans are a main issue. How come there arent more people out there protesting about that? We have come a long way, but there is still a long way to go. Yes, we won the battle of taxation without representation. Well, now that we have representation there is the issue of tax breaks. Even if we focus on just the representation part we find issues. The people who run our government seem to be there based off of how much money that have rather than the quality of their ideas. I know I am not the only one who sees a problem with that. People thought these rights were worth fighting for then, what do we think is worth fighting for now? We must remember our history so we can continue to make progress.

REFERENCES Raised to Hate: Kids of Westboro Baptist Church - ABC News. (2010, June 4). ABCNews.com Breaking News, Latest News & Top Video News - ABC News. Retrieved April 8, 2012, from http://abcnews.go.com/2020/raised-hate-kids-westboro-baptist-

church/story?id=10809348&page=2 Cagniart, P., & Alloco, J. (2000). World history: people & nations. (Annotated teacher's ed.). Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.