Free Speech

Free Speech [+ favourites]

Do you think free speech is a good thing or a bad thing?

By free speech, I don't just mean the free speech that everyone likes, I mean true free speech...where many opinions colide and lots of people will have lots of shady opinions.

For example, no one likes child molestors....but if you agree with free speech, then you have to take them all... from environmentalists...to the KKK... to gun worshippers, pro-war people, pedaphiles, masochists, gays...everyone.

Is free speech inheritely a good or bad thing? is it good for society or does it break us apart?

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

Some people would argue that curtailing the right to free speech in case you offend or
distress goes against their human rights and weakens the meaning.
They feel that the right to freedom of expression doesn't physically harm
anybody, so where's the problem.

That may work in theory, but not necessarily in practice


There are those in society who enjoy the fight... They have a contoversial opinion which, is not a bad thing
in its'self but, all too often they are a great deal more interested
in the effect the opinion has, rather than in the actual subject.
They seem to think that making their opinion known is much more important
than the feelings of the people who will be reading or hearing it, simply because they have
that right in the first place .
In most cases this doesn't matter at all, but not everyone can take the proverbial slings and arrows
that go with this right to free speech, is it OK to go ahead and shoot off about your pet topic,
at the expense of someone's sanity.
Look at the numbers of people, children and adults alike, suffering stress, mental illness or even committing suicide
because they have been bullied and the protagonists have not needed to lay a finger on them.
Regardless of popular opinion words can be as harmful to
some people as physical abuse.


I live in the UK and as far as I am aware we have no Right to Free Speech in the legal sense,
but neither do we have the police waiting to hit me with a big stick when I say Tony Blair's a git.
The law and even the culture in the UK is heading towards treating words and pictures as though they
can be as harmful as physical actions or abuse but we need education, not legislation, educate people to use
their right to free speech with consideration and thought and many of the conflicts that free speech
generates will cease to exist.


I personally don't want to hear the opinions of the gun brigade, nor do
I want to hear longwinded religious sermons or people's rights to have sex how, where and with whom.
There are a lot of things I don't want shoved down my throat, but I realise, that in order to have a
free society, there is bound to be things that I don't like, that I have to just put up with.
If it offends me, I turn the page, change the channel or whatever when it comes down to it,
I am incharge of what I hear and see.

Do I think free speech is good or bad, I think free speech is invaluable, it makes us who
we are and allows us to challenge the things in life that are not fair, right or proper,
but we need to learn to use it in a way that neither alienates or offends if we want it to ever work the way
it was intended.

Do I think we should have to afford paedophiles the right to free speech. I wouldn't afford them the right
to do anything, but thats another topic.

So free speech is a good thing according to you then...

So say there was a band of pedaphiles that were not criminals...they were just pedaphiles and were being persecuted by their neighbours..

so they grab signs and start a rally.... not saying that they want to be able to molest children, but that they are the way they are, and they have a right to be treated fairly.

Would you have the guts to stand up and defend their right for free speech?

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

I said in the last part of my message that I wouldn't afford Paedophiles the right to anything nevermind free speech, quite frankly I would lock them up and throw away the key. But if we deprive them of this, how do we go about it? Do we stop everyone from having free speech in order that paedophiles are kept silent, or do we legislate to prevent them from having that right. And if they did have the right to speak, would anyone listen!

Well, you can't legislate that certain people cannot have free speech because then you can eventually legislate that african americans or women aren't alowed free speech. I don't think the government has the right to do that.

My point about pedaphiles is this: If you believe in free speech, then will that belief transcend the fact that some people do not believe in things you appreciate.

In other words, would you support the right for pedaphiles and racists to speak their mind in public as you would allow mothers against drinking drivers and evironmentalists?

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

No, I don't support it. But there can't be one rule for us and one for them.
Here in the UK I think the police are allowed to ban any protest march that they think will cause a danger to the public. A planned protest by paedophiles would not be allowed to take place, because they would probably get ripped to bits by the crowd and the police would know that.. And anything written by a known paedophile and on that subject would probably come under the obscene publications act and be banned. So the situation would not arise over here.
Unless someone can tell me otherwise though, I assume that in the US they already have that right.

I do believe in free speech, but then again, along with free speech comes the respect of others. For example, if i was completely against religion, i'd still respect those that worship a god or some such idol. And i believe that others should.. but that is not necessarily the way the world works. To some, free speech means simply that, and they take no responsibility for their words or actions, and to me, that is completely dumb. If somebody is not prepared to take their own responsibilities and be prepared for any consequences, then they do not have any right to be considered an adult!

I think freedom of speech comes with open mindedness.... you say you'd lock every paedophile up and throw away the key orchard, but i wouldn't do that. Yes, some incidences are wrong, but when you simplify the situation, theose people are simply those who are attracted to children.... i don't see any problem with that, until abuse is involved... haven't you always said, "its okay to look"?

And also, that could lead to pornography....i know several people that regularly watch pornography, or have small collections....compare that to child pornography and you'd all be up in arms...think about it, they are both disgusting and morally degrading.

With paedophilia, society frowns against it, fair enough. But because of this, the issue is becoming censored. For example, a play that the actor Steven Fry has written, to do with paedophilia has been condemned. All he has attempted to do is portray the "sensitive" issue, in a way that is easily accessible, and it is rejected because some people are too narrow minded to venture into a world where perhaps, they may just understand!

Sorry, that turned into a little rant on my opinion of paedophilia....

"my name says it all!"

Well Orchid,

I would venture to say that you do not value free speech if you would not be willing to defend anyone and anybody speaking their mind.

If in the UK certain things are censored due to their nature, then that is the wrong thing to do.... free speech isn't determined by what is accepted by society. It is just free speech, for everyone.

I do not condone many things in this world...such as child molestors, rapists or racists. But if their right to speak their mind was being threatened, I would gladly defend their right to free speech, regardless of how that made me look.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

The remark about there being no difference between pornography and child pornography is one of the most rediculous things I have ever heard in my life. Most pornography is done by two or more consenting, ( and note the word consenting here) adults for money, its their choice to do it men and women alike. If they feel exploited, they should do something else for a living, but 99.9% of them won't its an extremely lucrative business and a large majority of them have very good lifestyles several are even multi millionaires..

Paedophiles and people who deal in child pornography are using children sometimes even toddlers for their own, and others sexual gratification and you say some incidences are wrong, NO.. All incidences are wrong. These children have no say in the matter they do not chose to be there its forced on them. Those children and young people will be scarred for ever. They will have to live with that for the rest of their lives and you say that the people who do this to them should not be locked up for life, if their victims have a life sentence, why shouldn't they. Looking at child pornography is just as bad as actual abuse, the purchase and viewing of this material is an encouragement for this practice to carry on.

Decius
I do believe in the right to free speech and as I said, just because I don't want to listen to it doesn't mean someone doesn't have the right to say it. People speaking their mind cannot be legislated against.
Things in the UK are only censored if they are obscene. Protest marches only stopped if they are likely to cause a breach of the peace or physical danger to the general public . The Natioal Front and the BNP are two racist organisations in the UK and they march regularly, and they are only stopped if there is likely to be trouble, the BNP are an actual political party and have several seats in parliament.

This is a difficult subject, you have to weigh up your right to speak your mind against the fact that others have an equal right to live without the fear or persection that would go with allowing biggots and racists to publicly speak their mind, or the terror that someone would feel at seeing the person that had abused them for years, making his case for abuse on their tv screen....

The right to free speech is like communism, it works well in theory, but I'm afraid it doesn't work so well in practice

Hi Orchid,

That's fine, and you are theorising in a very "3rd person" sort of view.

What I have been trying to ask you is, regardless of whether it is a good theory or not, do you support it and would you support ANY group in their right to free speech?

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

Orchard, i never said hat there isn't a difference between pornography and child pornography...i just said how i feel...i jst feel that those people, paedophiles are misguided....i obviously haven't put my point across very well.

I just wondered how much people actually knew about Paedophilia, and BEFORE you get on your high horse AGAIN, i'm NOT saying i know everything on the subject..i am simply voicing my opinion but perhaps not in a concise enough way.

I should have just finished at the end of y first paragraph, but i thought i'd continue and contribute to your discussion, but perhaps paedophilia becomes a thread of its own....

"my name says it all!"

Yes Decius, I'm not sure wether its good thing or a bad thing but I am one of those annoying people that can almost always see both sides of an argument. Trouble is I often have problems deciding which side I'm on... In this case, after much thought, I will have to come down on the side of the free speech. If I don't like what they are saying I can stick my fingers in my ears.. I can't say I'm really happy with my decision, but if I want the right, everyone else has to have it regardless of their opinion.

cutencuddly... No one needs to know much about paedophillia to know its wrong, whatever the reasons and no matter how misguided you may think these people are, its wrong and can never, ever be justified under any circumstances. Its a subject that always causes a great deall of strong feeling and perhaps we should have left it for another thread

Thanks for the response.

I feel the same way.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

I'm for free speech. Not having it limits the flow of information and gives the government too much control. On the other hand, free speech gives PEOPLE too much control in the sense that they can be manipulative and hurtful to others, but this is mainly by taking advantage of others' ignorance. If one understands something, someone speaking against it (in a hurtful way) is much easier to dismiss. Also, if pedophiles started speaking for their cause, for one thing it'd be easier to catch them (just because speaking about it is legal doesn't mean DOING it is). Also, some of these raunchy subjects would become less raunchy if they were openly discussed. It might help figure out where these people went wrong, and help to correct the behavior.

J.S. Mill's on liberty uses constructive dilema to afford free speech it right. Either the current paradigmn is right and the objections raised only strengthen it. It is wrong and the objections point that out and show a better way. Or most likely niether is right yet the opinions collide to for something closer to the truth or at very least a new understanding is born.

Under these circumstances the right should never be prohibited, for hopefully humans can grow through conflict. Any violence that takes place due to freespeech is not freespeech, that is where the confusion is sometimes made, my right to say murder is right and your right to do it are not as closely related as society believes, in fact I believe it to be proof that humans think far too little of ourselves we feel that the population no longer has the cognetive ability to decipher between speech and action. Sensorship I believe is to blame for our lack of critical thinking. Everything we hear is so finley filtered that when we finly do hear somthing of raw human emotion it excites feeling in us that have been longer forgotten.

"I like maxims that don't encourage behaviour modification"