Thread: Freedom Of Speech

My two cents:

WHENEVER anyone talks of "drawing the line" somewhere with regards to free speech, WHERE that line will be drawn will resultt from the attitudes of the dominant cultural group within a society.

for instance in America, the line would probably be drawn at anything that seems pro-"terrorist". In germany, the line is drawn at anything remotely pro-nazi. In some fundamentalist Moslem countries, on the other hand, the line might be drawn somewhere completely different. In America, the "line" was once drawn, thanks to McCarthy(sp? at anything pro-communist.

Restrictin freedom of speech is a mechanism of government and the dominant culture, to re-inforce the dominance of their ideologies - to stamp out points of view that threaten their authority. And, where the line should be drawn is never objectively determined - their will always be disagreement.

This is why I support absoulte freedom of speech. People should be free to say whatever the fuck they want. The government should have NO ROLE WHATSOEVER in regulating what people say. The only mechanisms for regulation should be private lawsuits, in cases of slander, or suits against companies whose advertising or similar is misleading or false.

I 100% agree with blue meanie, he explained my views perfectly
Imran
xxxx

Yes, I agree as well.

Haha, one thing always comes to my mind when Free Speech is mentioned. One of the problems with making things like racism and hate speech illegal, or at least trying to, is that racist groups might think something along the lines of, "oh no, the government is trying to suppress us!" and make their activities as low profile as possible. Consequently, while together, they will only be exposed to other people with the same views as them, thus reinforcing them.

Now consider these people in a relatively free environment, such as the internet. Suppose they start a forum based some kind of racist notion. Because all sorts of people will be able to contribute their points of view, the group and their ideas will be challenged by people who disagree. Although the ensuing flame wars might not change a whole lot of people's points of view, at least here the two (or more) sides are aware of what other people are thinking.

If someone who is very easily swayed finds themselves at one of the racists' underground meetings, chances are they will leave the meeting with racist ideas. However, if they find themselves on the forum, or in some other free speech environment, they be exposed to all sorts of opinions and knowledge and they will decide for themselves what's right and what's wrong.


I think that although free speech is incredible in theory, it would probably lead to all sorts of violence.
Heh, maybe if people just stopped being so easily offended by everything..

Sorry about the terrible writing, I got overexcited about this thread.