Honors History #2

American citizenship is an odd, yet beautiful thing. As Americans, we have this freedom that just seems to come from the sky. Every baby born in the U.S. automatically receives certain rights that other babies wouldn’t and can’t in many other countries around the world. They come with no tangible cost to every single citizen, and still so many take them for granted, as if they were always there. But, the truth is, America had to work hard to allow its inhabitants such rights. America fought—and still fights- many battles to bestow them upon all people of the nation. And thanks to these efforts, other countries can experience the same freedoms that Americans are for so often ungrateful.

Take, for example, Germany. During World War II, Germany was a Fascist nation, meaning that there was no freedom of speech. Everyone had to go along with whatever Hitler said. Worse, Hitler was using this lack of free speech to control the minds of plenty of German citizens. Take this newspaper article for example. For every year he was in power, Hitler’s birthday was celebrated in the newspapers. A man named Joseph Goebbels wrote the articles of celebration. Imagine if Goebbels was against Hitler’s Third Reich, and every year on the eve of his birthday, rebelled publicly. He wouldn’t have been alive very long, that’s for sure.

Even though Americans fought against Germany during World War II, they still helped a great deal after the fact. Along with other Allied forces, freedom of speech was returned to Germany through the removal of anything Hitler decreed during that time period. If they hadn’t, Germany could still very easily be a country where the media was heavily censored. In fact, until the 1980’s, half of Germany was still that way. However, this split was soon remedied and freedom of speech was restored to all of Germany. It is because of our influence in that country during the war that Germans can now say whatever they like without the fear of death at every turn.

And yet, even with all the success in Europe, many nations still aren’t comfortable allowing their citizens to speak freely within their borders.