What is free speech?

Assume a hypothetical situation in which free speech in a country was removed except in a few select locations in every area (we'll call them Free Speech Centres). Inside the confines of these centres, you can say whatever you want about whoever you want and not be punished for it, but outside the centres, all falsehoods would be punished in the usual way (e.g. claiming a company uses illegal child labour inside the centre would be fine, but doing it outside the centre would result in a defamation charge.) Would this still be free speech?

I assume that most of would give a resounding no, and say that this isn't free speech at all. But why not? IMO, free speech isn't just the right to say what you want, to who you want and whenever you want it to because there are clearly some situations where this would be wrong (shouting racist or sexual abuse at random people on the street is just one example.) Or is it the case that free speech is absolute and preventing someone from saying something, with absolutely no exceptions to this rule, is infringing on their rights?

You may be saying that words aren't important and we can just ignore them, but there are some situations in which what we say can have a directly perceivable impact on the world around us. If someone was to walk into a busy shopping centre and claim there was a fire, people could be injured or even killed by the ensuing rush to escape to safety. Verbal abuse can have a major impact on the lives of the people who it is directed at, in some cases even driving them to suicide.

So then, if free speech doesn't necessitate the right to say anything at any given time and place, what actually is free speech?

Reply 1

MathMeister

10

Original post by Arithmeticae

...

Being able to express opinions extr... We have free speech so we're not like some countries where saying some things would be very dangerous/ criminal.
Free speech has it's limits and I believe the public order act may be of interest to some of the things you've mentioned.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 2

karmacrunch

21

I think free speech is expressing ourselves in the way we want- verbally and physically (actions can speak louder than words sometimes). I don't think that 'speech' will ever be fully free to make because of the effects it can cause e.g. what you said with the supermarket, verbal abuse, discrimination etc.
However...

"If you believe in freedom of speech, you believe in freedom of speech for views you don’t like. Goebbels was in favor of freedom of speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re in favor of freedom of speech, that means you’re in favor of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise."- Noam Chomsky

To make sense of that quote it's probably best if we define 'Free Speech' first. I think it's a little contradictory. :moon:

(Quote is from the courtesy of ChaoticButterfly :tongue:

)

Original post by ChaoticButterfly

x

^

Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 3

Arkasia

19

Quite simple. Free speech entails that anyone has the freedom to say what they want, when they want, how they want. It does not, however, extend to give them immunity to the law or to judgement for what they say.

Reply 4

ChaoticButterfly

20

Original post by karmacrunch

I think free speech is expressing ourselves in the way we want- verbally and physically (actions can speak louder than words sometimes). I don't think that 'speech' will ever be fully free to make because of the effects it can cause e.g. what you said with the supermarket, verbal abuse, discrimination etc.
However...

To make sense of that quote it's probably best if we define 'Free Speech' first. I think it's a little contradictory. :moon:

(Quote is from the courtesy of ChaoticButterfly :tongue:

)

^

Posted from TSR Mobile

You are doing well young padawon.

Reply 5

0x2a

2

Original post by Arkasia

Quite simple. Free speech entails that anyone has the freedom to say what they want, when they want, how they want. It does not, however, extend to give them immunity to the law or to judgement for what they say.

Free speech does give them immunity to the law. It doesn't give them immunity to judgement, but you cannot jail/fine them, otherwise how is free speech free?

Reply 6

Arkasia

19

Original post by 0x2a

Free speech does give them immunity to the law. It doesn't give them immunity to judgement, but you cannot jail/fine them, otherwise how is free speech free?

Hate speech is illegal under the laws of this country.

Reply 7

0x2a

2

Original post by Arkasia

Hate speech is illegal under the laws of this country.

Doesn't mean we have free speech though.

Reply 8

Arkasia

19

Original post by 0x2a

Doesn't mean we have free speech though.

Of course we do, if we didn't, there would be no hate speech.

Reply 9

0x2a

2

Original post by Arkasia

Of course we do, if we didn't, there would be no hate speech.

That's because our justice system is not 100% effective at capturing every single piece of hate speech. If speech was to be truly free, then you should be allowed to say anything, without fear that you'd get reprimanded for it.

Reply 10

El Salvador

21

Speech that can be heard without a charge. Like those iTunes free podcasts.

What is free speech?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you