donderdag 28 januari 2010

Freedom of Expression

Freedom of expression
The freedom to express your opinion

The freedom of expression is the freedom to express yourself without being bound by restrictions. It is sometimes used to indicate not just freedom of verbal speech but any action to seek, receive and give information or ideas, no matter what medium is being used.

Is this freedom absolute?
There are in fact some restrictions to this wonderful ideology, to make it seem politically correct this is called: Hate speech. Hate speech is speech perceived to discredit a person or group of people based on their social or ethnic group, such as race, gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, language ability, ideology, social class, occupation, appearance (height, weight, skin color, etc.), mental capacity, and any other difference that might be considered by some as a liability. The term covers written as well as oral communication and some forms of behaviours in a public setting. It is also sometimes called talking behind someone’s back. In many countries, intentional use of hate speech is a criminal offence prohibited under incitement to hatred legislation in most countries.

Should there be absolute freedom to express your opinion?
I believe there should be absolute freedom of expression,

I believe firmly in the idea that you have to make mistakes to become a better person, how does this work? You have an idea, you act on the bases of that idea, it doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would, you talk to other people about the idea, or about the action you took and understand why it didn’t turn out the way you thought it would. Then you either change the way you thought or the actions you will take in the future depending on what was wrong, the idea or the act.

Freedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints.
I wonder if we are allowed to think something, but then are not allowed to say what we think, does this mean we are actually censured in what we may think? And if we do think something but are not allowed to talk about the thought or idea, then how will we know that this is either a right or a wrong idea or thought?

However, if you live in an enclosed environment, with little contact with the outside world, there could be a flaw in this system because with a lack of new points of view, the ideas are permanent and a vicious circle is started.

Is this a problem?
In most cases I would say no, but if this enclosed environment happens to be a terrorist training camp there is a whole different matter at hand.

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