Why we Need Freedom of Speech
I made a video addressing freedom of speech. I wanted to share it:
Freedom of speech is one of the fundamental tenets of liberalism. It has largely got western societies where they currently are, and due to its threatened existence nowadays, it is necessary to remind ourselves why it is crucial to our wellbeing.
Freedom of speech is one of the fundamental tenets of liberalism. It has largely got western societies where they currently are, and due to its threatened existence nowadays, it is necessary to remind ourselves why it is crucial to our wellbeing.
Comments (10)
In any case, the way to encourage loss it's freedom is to give government more and more power to inhibit our freedoms. There is no such thing as a benevolent government. Obama certainly did a lot to v extend government into our lives. Democrats know best?
According to whose definition of 'fair'?
That's the catch with free speech. You don't have to consider each example on its own merits. It is free of any restriction. You can say what you want just because you want.
Fair speech is more tedious. Each case must be judged on its own merits to determine if it is fair or not, and if it is not then you can't say it even if you really, really want to.
No, of course it is not free speech, if the speech is forbidden because it is unfair. That is my point. No one should have a right to unfair speech.
Quoting Wayfarer
I'm not entirely sure what you are suggesting here, but I would say that consequences are unavoidable when considering what is fair or not. That is the essence of justice.
Quoting Wayfarer
If the qualification that free speech is flawed in that it does not consider what is fair or true, then it is something which I'm happy to see undermined.
You still don't get the point. What is 'fair'? What the government thinks is fair? What a court thinks is fair? And what will be their criteria? The point about free speech, is that nobody gets to decide whether it's fair or not - if there's someone sitting in judgement over it, then it's not 'free speech'.
Yeah, this is my point. "Free speech" is a convenient, lazy doctrine which requires no consideration. Without judgment, there can be no justice, which means speech without judgment will always run the risk of being unfair speech.
"Free speech" is a misnomer which appeals to incredulity, pride, self-righteousness, and selfishness. Just because you have a thought, does not mean it is right for you to speak that thought. There should be freedom for the truth to be spoken, but not freedom for untruths to be spoken. Free speech should never be used as a cloak for evil, and yet, by its design, "free" speech provides exactly that medium for evil men. "How dare you repress my freedom to speak to all good people to persecute and kill those with whom I disagree!". All humans have the ability to hate one another, but no human should have that as a right.
Difficult topic. Free speech in USA is pretty much unrestricted, with certain exceptions as you have pointed out. It is so unrestricted that Corporations have the right of free speech. People in favor of
Citizens United based it on core First Amendment (free speech) principles: the right to think and speak your mind, to associate with others and to use your own resources to make yourself heard. Overturning it would be a disaster for free speech, from the conservative point of view. It's a lobbyist's wet dream.
The problems with free speech, I think, has to do with what it allows. Frat boys crying for the lynching of black, fellow students, it legal and it is obscene.
Some countries such as Germany are not so relaxed. They have laws against hate speech and they are especially sensitive to anything related to the Nazi ideology, flags, and other mementos.