Free Speech is an idea which is cherished by many and, rightly so in my opinion.
In America, such is its importance that Free Speech is enshrined in the constitution in the form of the First Amendment. I quote …
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
I’m of the opinion that Free Speech should be considered as a fundamental human right. It’s also an inalienable human right.
But lofty notions aside, let’s consider what Free Speech means in practical terms.
Free Speech should be exactly as it’s described as being … that is to say, “free”. Put in plain and simple language … each and every one of us should be free to say exactly whatever he, or she wants - no matter what.
In line with this, Free Speech should exist entirely without conditions.
However, although Free Speech shouldn’t come with any conditions, there is at least one caveat that must be made explicit and its implications understood. So what’s the caveat?
Well, when someone exercises their right to Free Speech, they might say something which someone else could consider distasteful, or objectionable. And maybe even someone might find something that someone says to be downright offensive.
So, this begs the question … what’s to be done in this instance? Not much I would say.
This is just the downside of Free Speech - the price we have to pay.
Free Speech is therefore not free in the sense that it’s not without cost.
There is a cost involved. The freedom of one person saying exactly whatever he, or she, wants, comes at the cost of someone else having to hear something they might not like.
But really though, any of us who has lived in this world for any length of time will know that there is nothing in this world that is entirely free.
This caveat is perhaps somewhat unfortunate, but as far as I can see, it’s unavoidable.
Being an advocate of Free Speech means that I am beholden to defend the right of any individual to say whatever he or she wants without any restrictions placed upon them, even though I might not like what he, or she, says.
To my way of thinking, the notion of Free Speech necessarily trumps any distaste, or disapproval that I might have for what someone might say.
To sweeten the bitterness, perhaps we should consider that their freedoms are synonymous with our freedoms. Their freedom to say whatever they want corresponds to our freedom to say whatever we want. We should then, I would suggest, take the view that we have to tolerate such things in others in order to preserve our own rights.
The other thing to say about this is that while everyone of us has the right to say exactly what we want, we perhaps should have some kind of awareness of the impact our words have. We should perhaps consider the sensibilities of others.
