English teacher Sarah Scruton says that we should be more compassionate and understanding to help ensure our freedoms.

“I think we need to learn how to be civil again.  I think that our lack of civility is part of why people are attacking the First Amendment,” said Scruton.

Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered on October 2nd, by Saudi Arabian agents, after he entered the consulate in Istanbul to pick up his marriage papers.

Khashoggi was a journalist who built a platform for Saudi Arabian progressives. In his articles and Twitter posts he spoke his mind about the Saudi government. Khashoggi used the idea of American free speech to do his work. He was the voice for the people of Saudi Arabia.  Most of his writing was very critical. In 2017 he left Saudi Arabia, this was after the government banned him from twitter.

On October 2nd Khashoggi was dissmendered with a bone saw. Originally this murder was denied by the Saudi Government. They had said that Khashoggi had left the consulate safe and alive. The Saudi government went as far as having someone dress in Khashoggi’s clothes and walk down the street and pass as many surveillance cameras as possible. But on October 20th the Saudi government revealed that he was actually killed.  

They also said they had sound recording of Khashoggi being killed, but they would not release that to the U.S. And according to the BBC a top Turkish official has said the Khashoggi’s body was dissolved in acid after he was killed.  

The facts of this case have been presented as they have come in, which can be misleading at times. As a result of Saudi Arabia not giving reliable information it has taken longer to distinguish what is fact and what is fiction.

The U.S. has been pressing the matter to get information from the Saudi government. But we could push a little more.

“I think we certainly could use the arms deal to pressure them to be a bit more transparent, and take this seriously, especially given the fact that the latest news we have is they might have dissolved his body in an acid bath…” said Political science Timothy Could. “We are also a very large customer of their oil so customers can have as much leverage as the seller. So I think we could both of those things.”

Khashoggi was a man who supported the good in people, even when they committed acts of terrorism.  Khashoggi knew Osama Bin Laden in the 1980’s and 90’s. After the 9/11 attacks he made a statement talking about how he hopes this will help everyone not let their kids be influenced by extremist ideas like the 15 men who hijacked the planes.

Also in 2011, after Osama Bin Laden was killed, Khashoggi made the statement of “I collapsed crying a while ago, heartbroken for you Abu Abdullah (Bin Laden’s nickname) You were beautiful and brave in those beautiful days in Afghanistan, before you surrendered to hatred and passion.”

Khashoggi was living under strict governmental control, but came to America and worked for the washington post as a columnist. America is know for the vast amount of freedoms it offers. These freedoms are desired by millions of people around the world, but not all of world leaders want their people to have them.

Our First Amendment gives us the freedoms of religion, protest, assembly, press and one of the most important is the freedom of speech. This is the most desired freedom, second is freedom of religion.

Most countries around the world are silenced because the government is a dictatorship. They want to control every aspect of the people. The country is like a giant dollhouse and the dictator is the little girl playing with the dolls, which in this case are the citizens of that country. The girl will speak, think and act for the dolls. This is exactly what a dictator wants to do. But the citizens think and act for themselves, and they have their own opinions and feelings. Some citizens don’t agree with how the government is control and want to share their opinion because they want to make a change. However this is one of the biggest challenges.

Dictator-ruled countries typically have massive militaries that are extremely dedicated and loyal to the ruler. So if someone was was to go against what they say they use force and that is exactly what they did to Khashoggi and exactly why we need journalism.

“I think that journalists should present the facts as they become available with as little bias as possible, although that seems to be harder and harder to distinguish,” said Scruton.

Other journalists in the U.S could be doing more.

Editor of the Daily News, Richard Lodge, told the Triton Voice that the U.S journalists could help raise awareness to what is happening in other countries. He said opinion journalists should urge the government and the powerful people to help the citizens of other countries, and that regular reportive journalists should be writing about the horrendous things that happen in other places, whether it be imprisonment of the people or killings of the citizens.

This would give those people under those restrictive governments a chance to use our freedom of speech to get help.

As a country we benefit from having freedom of speech and press. Triton high school gets to have both a newspaper and a tv station.

Robert Lathrop the VTV teacher says that the videos that are put in a TV episode are censored by him for inappropriate content. Also it is viewed by Ms. Dawe and if there is something she is feels is inappropriate for school it will be taken down. But as a part of the class the students are allowed to make whatever videos they want. They may not be aired, but they are given the creative freedoms to say or do what they want.

Other countries are not given these chances and they don’t have our rights and it is the United States job to be an advocate for them.

“The freedom of speech is probably the most important freedom we have because it gives the opportunity to disagree with those in charge without fear extreme repercussions,” said Lathrop. “I think that provides a checks and balances between the people and the people that govern the people i think that is healthy for a democracy.”