Having been asked to find a Youtube video that appropriately conveys American liberty, I initially found it quite difficult as the only videos that appeared after searching on Youtube were either songs written be Lee Greenwood, or memorial video dedicated to fallen US soldiers. This video however, was created as a part of an American liberal/progressive political and social commentary program called TYT University, the "TYT" standing for The Young Turks. In this video the video hosts discuss an incident in which a high school girl named Chelsea Stanton from New Jersey was recently reprimanded by her school for refusing to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance in class due to her disagreeing with the use of the word "God" in the pledge and her beliefs as an atheist.
The interesting thing about this report is mainly the views and comments made by the students that the reporters interviewed, some said that Stanton "has" and "should" stand out of respect and patriotism. However the hosts of the Youtube show agree with Stanton's stand point and argue that America was founded on people seeking religious freedom and the freedom of speech is available to all. The video host even compares the comments made by other high schools students to comments or views expressed in various media outlets in the Western world about people being "forced" to recite or do acts against their will in countries that the United States would deem as not free e.g Russia and Saudi Arabia. The way in which the video hosts stand up for Chelsea Stanton, to me, truly conveys "American Liberty" as they recognise her right to express her own individual beliefs and to not participate in anything she does not truly believe in just because everyone else around her is doing it.
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