Free speech
Wednesday 5th December, 2007 @ 11:37 pm
Some stuff happened a few weeks ago which put a sour taste in my mouth about my blogging. Those who follow my posts regularly can probably work out what it was but I’m not going to say anything explicitly.
I’ve been toying around with the ideas of free speech the last few weeks and how free is free enough. I don’t have the right to make rascist insults or violent threats. Is this a bad thing or simply sensible?
I was reading James the other day and it talks about the tongue being “a restless evil, full of deadly poison” and sometimes I feel mine is certainly like that. So much of we say can upset others or make us look foolish. How does this affect free speech though?
“Sticks and stones will break my bones but words shall never hurt me” is told to children in the UK. This can’t be further from the truth. The question is not whether free speech can be a bad thing; it is clear it can hurt and cause damage, violence and hatred, but what limits we put on it and what sacrifices are acceptable in its name.
There was some controversy two weeks ago with two controverisal speakers at an Oxford debate being allowed a free platform to speak at the prestigious university. Some claim this gave legitimacy to their views and furthered their movements. Also we saw Aaron Seigo ask for people to give constructive criticism rather than just “sucking lists” for the KDE4 release and there was some heated discussion about whether this was a fair ask or not.
Even although these two discussions probably hurt some people and annoyed others I feel both were beneficial. Abraham Lincoln once said “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt” and I feel this is pertininet in these days when free speech is under discussion and heated debate fills the internet.
If you try and force people not to say certain things; be they complaints, rascist comments or denial of history then these views don’t simply die, instead they tend to occur behind closed doors and cliques and this is far more dangerous than being aware of them. The best way to confront idiotic or bigotted views is through public debate where they can be reasoned with rather than ignored.
With this in mind I personally think anyone should be able to say what they want, where they want and to whom they want. If it isn’t true, if it is offensive then they should be verbally repremanded but I don’t believe words and ideas should be punished simply for being.
With this in mind I’m glad to see the amount of heated discussion that occurs on Planet KDE and elsewhere on the internet. It may appear brash or rude but people only argue when they care and I think KDE is lucky to have a bunch of developers that cares so much about the software being great, even when sometimes their methods of vocalising it could be improved.
Posted in Christianity, My Life
9 Comments »
The biggest danger is the “slippery slope”. Sure racist speech is wrong, but as soon as you limit that, the question is what is racist comes up. Then as lines are drawn and redrawn things get worse and worse.
Is it bad for me to preach my God? Atheists will say it is (they may or may not give me the right to say it). How about my unpopular opinions that are the truth?
Comment by Henry Miller — Thursday 6th December, 2007 @ 12:41 am
Not sure if you misunderstood that “Sticks and stones will break my bones,
but words will never hurt me” thing. Of course it’s not true - as I understand
it was made to make people aware of the fact, that they do have influence on
how much pain words cause to them or not.
Assuming the post you mentioned refers to the one I have in mind, let me say I
was shocked you posted without “turning on your responsibility brain” to say
“no” before posting but also excuse it as a single false step that you will
learn from.
I’m not sure though how that post relates to “free speech”.
In my head free speech is the question if the law allows you to say
something or not, whether it is legal to say something. I think your
post raises another question instead: whether something you were permitted
to say by law harmed people and therefor was legitimate or not.
I hope that made some sense and didn’t offend anybody
Please excuse me not showing my name.
Comment by Some guy — Thursday 6th December, 2007 @ 12:57 am
It doesn’t relate to free speech and yes it was rather silly, I was just talking about why I haven’t blogged for a while.
As for the sticks and stones: when I was getting verbally bullied at school my parents used to say that to me as if they thought it was true.
Comment by Mike — Thursday 6th December, 2007 @ 1:01 am
Freedom always comes with responsibilities and respect; This is what a lot of people actually miss, the fact one _can_ say what one thinks doesn’t necessarily mean that it makes sense in the certain situation!
As for Aaron’s question to provide constructive criticism, this is just what the above means: bashing does not help anybody, publicly bitching about something that’s not yet released doesn’t get us anywhere! Rather raise issues in the respective channels and provide a basis to improve what you criticise. It’s a matter of respect and responsibility…
…as it is a matter of responsibility to actually _raise_ issues (again: in certain channels, and in a constructive way). Addressing problems and articulating concerns, leading to either fixes or explanations to why something was done the way it was is a good thing!
It might be a personal thing, but whenever some political whatever gathers and bashes (Austrian) government, it’s always just freedoms demanded, but responsibilities all put on the state’s shoulders. The example is just the best way to picture what’s going on in people’s minds: we (at least in Europe and America) have never been as free as we are now, but - in all aspects of our lives - we need to accept that this valuable gift of freedom has to be paid with responsibilities towards all of us! Also in free software… and I’m _happy_ to take on these responsibilities!
Comment by Franz Keferböck — Thursday 6th December, 2007 @ 1:58 am
“I hope that made some sense and didn’t offend anybody”
Well, it offend me. It really hurt me, badly. You should be forbidden to say that!
I’m sick of people using this easy and “political correctness” excuse to justify
censorship. “I don’t like that, so it must be forbidden”, “That is offensive
so it must be censored”.
Through out my life I’ve heard enough insults, was lied to and was accused of things
that I hadn’t done. These things hurt me when I was young, but with time I learned that none of
that was capable of harming me. I was still alive, physically unhurt and could go
to wherever I wanted. It’s part of growing up. The people who said those things
showed themselves as fools and I could avoid them.
Besides life, freedom is the most important thing a person has. It’s a natural
right.
Freedom of speech is not an advantage to racist, bigots, intolerants, fascists,
fundamentalist, fanatics, or any other person who tries to torture, rape, imprison,
segregate, enslave, repress or any other mean of removal of freedom.
Freedom of speech is the most important weapon to defeat them.
Stalin, Hitler or any other fascist or despot at any level, either at home, at
school, at locally, nationally, or internationally ever defends freedom of speech,
because they know that as soon as they allow that they will be defeated.
It took me a long to realize and appreciate the importance of freedom. It is only
when we see it taken away from us we understand how important it is. DO NOT make
same mistake. Once removed it will very, very hard to bring it back!
Freedom is one of the most precious things we have. Freedom of speech, to express
ourselves, even when someone can/will be offended[1]; freedom of identity: sexual,
intellectual, physical; freedom of movement; freedom of thought; freedom to
associate or to disassociate; etc…
When so many countries around the world have not and refuse to embrace freedom as
foundation stone to build their societies, when other are in the process of
removing the little freedom that their citizens have, that we that live in somewhat
“free societies” should even think that removing freedom is a “good thing”.
Learn from what is going on around world in real time. It’s history lesson. People
are paying with their lives the price of freedom. Learn with history. We build
better societies with freedom not without it!
Think of the many ways our governments are trying to restrict what we say, where
we say it (this is very important, as important as what we say) because it’s
offensive, unpatriotic, or whatever.
REFLECT. And you will understand that suffering a bit because of freedom of speech
is not enough to justify the suffering that will come by the absence of it!
Thank you.
Comment by Jose — Thursday 6th December, 2007 @ 5:05 am
I’ve always thought that the sticks and stones saying is incomplete. IMHO it should be “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me unless I let them.”
The words of other people can only hurt you as much as you let them. Of course, it’s hard for kids to “get” this. I certainly never did until I reached adulthood.
But adults should be able to understand it. And adults who get offended by ideas, thoughts or speech that isn’t actually threatening them with physical harm, are just not worth paying that much attention to. Adults who disagree with what I say, I’ll listen to why. Adults who think I’m foolish or stupid for thinking the things I think, I’ll listen to what they consider smarter. But adults who are offended? Let them be offended. That’s their problem, and I won’t change what I say just to suit them.
Anyone can be offended by almost anything. In fact, for any opinion you care to name, you can probably find someone on the planet who is offended by it. Well, fuck ‘em.
Comment by Karellen — Friday 7th December, 2007 @ 8:20 pm
I’m offended by your use of profantity.
Only joking!
Nice point Karellen, I completely agree. I found it really unhelpful as a child to be told that but as an adult I think it applies. I’ve had some people say some pretty nasty things to me in the last few years of my life but, unless I actual think they have a basis, I don’t care!
Comment by Mike — Friday 7th December, 2007 @ 8:27 pm
Erm, Mike, as we’re on the subject of free speech, I’ll have to be perfectly honest with you - you’ve mis-attributed that quoe.
It’s by Mark Twain, not Abraham Lincoln.
And he was paraphrasing Proverbs. I’d bave to be thinking hard to give you the chapter:verse reference, but there’s a nearly identical proverb.
Comment by Shanana — Saturday 8th December, 2007 @ 9:09 am
Cheers Shanana. It seems from my (limited) Googling that Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln both said it. Wikiquote says they don’t have a reference to him specifically saying it so you could be right.
I’d be interested in hearing the Proverbs verse though if you end up finding it.
Comment by Mike — Saturday 8th December, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
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