Blog 3- FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Freedom of Speech- Promoting Tolerance

Countries all over have different laws and principles that citizens follow. But the one principle I can think of that is so completely different from everywhere else, is the freedom of speech concept. One of the things that have stuck out to me personally have been the freedom of speech principle ever since High School. 37 out of 195 countries have absolute freedom of speech. Since it is a law to say whatever you would like, society has a way to punish anyone who says something offensive or mean. Also referred to as “cancel culture”. Cancel culture could ultimately put out your business. Even though you can say whatever you want, you still have to watch what you say, especially around people who get easily offended or are strong minded on topics that you may not even know about. 

            Freedom of speech teaches us to become more tolerant to other outlooks in life. It builds more character and makes us stronger. It also shows that our Government lets the leash lose a little bit, and our Country is freer than others. That’s why when someone says, “it’s a free country”, they are talking about the freedom of speech amendment. This amendment does not have restrictions. This includes libel, incitement, slander, perjury, trade secrets, and copyright violation.  

            The eight values of free expression include marketplace of ideas, participation in self-government, stable change, individual self-fulfillment, check on government power, promote tolerance, promote innovation, and protect dissent. These are all different ways to look at speech theories. Each have a different perspective to show how freedom of speech is important and has many different aspects. 

            I picked promoting tolerance because it shows that you need to build character. It creates a stronger, powerful, and tolerant society. We need to experience more valuable lessons to succeed. Life will always bring you down and the more experience and tolerance you have with it the more you can learn, develop, and grow mentally. 

            According to the “speech theories” tab on the website, it says, “It has been argued that freedom of speech, especially through our practice of extending protection to speech that we find hateful or personally upsetting, teaches us to become more tolerant in other aspects of life — and that a more tolerant society is a better society. Somewhat counter-intuitive, the First Amendment protects hate speech because society learns valuable lessons from, including why it is hateful and worthy of condemnation. It’s how we spread norms about acceptable behavior.” That explains it in a different perspective. 

             We take for granted freedom of speech every day. Most countries don’t even have the privilege to be able to speak their mind about anything and it is really upsetting. There are only 18.97% of people who get freedom of speech on the planet. An amendment that was created in 1791 can have such a huge impact on the world. 70% of Americans agreed that people should have a right to free speech. I feel as though that shows how Americans have already have character built to them.