"I may disagree with what you say sir, but I will fight to the death to defend your right to say it."
Forgot who said that first but it's a good quote and it's how I feel about free speech. Or how free speech ought to be. That said, I state that we don't really have free speech anywhere anymore. Those of you who appear to live in first world countries (I'm in the U.S) seem to be giving everyone a kind of pat on the back. I've seen the statement about capitalist countries being these democratic meccas of freedom. Few restrictions are placed on speech because of the "pluralistic" nature of economy and the government. This is, for the most part true.
Quick side note: I'm talking mostly from my point of view which is the United States so if I say something that isn't true for whatever country just keep in mind that unless stated otherwise I'll be critical of my own country. [img]smile.gif[/img]
So the government doesn't put many controls on free speech, and indeed cannot, for the reasons that other people have already stated. But really, what about other more social controls (I believe that in sociology these would be called casual or informal sanctions). The English language is dieing, the media and corporations tell us what to think; and in the end who decides what's right and what's wrong with what people say?
A couple examples to illustrate my poorly (or not at all) made point.
I like to use big words. I'm overly educated and inasmuch know some weird stuff. I often have to explain what I'm saying to people when I use such words as onus, anathema, denigration or even insinuate or flippant.
Look at the recent diasters here in the U.S. and you'll find a plethora of great examples of violations of free speech, the disasters being 9/11 and the last presidential election (I mean this to be on topic though. If you want to talk about the election start a new topic :
ucks for cover and hides:: ). Free speech being more than just the ability to say what we think. It also extends to our ability to access information. The dissemination of this information can effect how we think and is a form of speech. There was a great deal of self censorship and a staggering amoung of self aggrandizment within the press following the 9/11 attacks. As for the election, there were 13 recounts that were done after the supreme court's decision. Only two of them were widely reported on and in both of them Bush won. In the other 11 Gore won. This isn't freedom of speech.
We also see, or don't see, stories about Wal-mart's (or Columbia's) suppresion of labor unions. When was the last time you heard about a strike that wasn't either Baseball or United Airlines. Fact of the matter is, unless you're living near the strike you won't hear about it (and even if you are living near the strike, if in fact people are allowed to unionized, coverage will be exceedingly slim).
In short the government doesn't need to sanction or curtail speech because we already do such a great job of it. To use a previous post as an example:
Quote:
seriously, guys like me ALLOWED the
constitution to be created, thus the freedom of speach to be created. to ABUSE that freedom, like so many people do (not to pick on
anyone, but here in Oregon, its mostly the liberals.) is exactly that, abuse. people exploit our constitution, and bend it to fit THEIR
needs.
|
Thing is that our constitution was created so that we _could_ criticize the government. In their wisdom the creators of the constitution saw the need with in a democracy for all speech especially that which is critical of the ruling body. How else to properly address the needs of the people. Now we have media censorship of the few pundits willing to call our current government for its trepasses. That's not free speech either and it's patently rediculous.
Remember that inherent in the right to free speech is the right to ignorance. Not only can you ignore someone but you can ignore everything.
A good resource for reading about media screwups is
www.fair.org
They're fairly centrist, willing to take shots at both the right and the precieved left of the media world.
::Climbs off of his soap Box::
DeSoya