In 1644 the illustrious John Milton, a Geordie from North Shields on Tyneside, England
Published the pamphlet Areopagitica, a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing. In the pamphlet the central message was:
“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties”
What he was describing was the most fundamental of all human rights, one that underpins all others and without which none of the others would function at all.
Milton was one of the earliest pamphleteers in the modern world to advocate freedom of the press. The irony today is that those who advocate it the loudest, usually on the rightist- liberal platform are often those who, with the acquisition of power would supress it.
How did society over the last 350+ years take such a retrograde step?
Unfortunately, freedom of speech, just as freedom of religion and religious practices, is yet another example of political slogans which do not actually hold water.
There are laws limiting free speech. Such as laws against liable and slander.
There are other ethical codes to limit free speech. These are societal codes, which make people hesitate before being overtly offensive. Such as loudly being vulgar in public places.
There are also bullies, like Trump, who will shout people down for expressing themselves, thus making people self-limit their freedom of speech. The same applies with political correctness, which also causes self-limiting in what people are willing to say.
So, free speech is a political slogan. It does not exist fully. It is throttled back by laws and by local customs and ethical codes.
Free speech is indeed a political slogan.
Unbridled free speech is itself a threat to human rights since if imbeciles like Musk and Vance are to be agreed with then it is acceptable to encourage terrorism.
They do not of course believe in free speech at all. Anyone in Musk's companies who is critical of him is fired. Vance shouts down anyone who disagrees with him or the leader of his cult.
It is fascinating that the alleged democratic right of free expression has been hijacked by those who do not believe in democracy. Now both extremist wings in democratic polities both claim to be the guardians of free speech at the same time as suppressing it.
My sense is that people are still in shock, maybe some hints that a recovery is taking shape.
And of course, there are the slow learners, who have to be hit on the head with a log before they wake up. It's almost funny to hear their "Oh, I didn't realize this is how they would go about this."
Good to have some basic democratic ideals in our DNA. Hopefully people will wake up to the excesses of these frauds.
Albert Manfredi "My sense is that people are still in shock, maybe some hints that a recovery is taking shape." What if people simply look at let's say that Musk fired ~80% of Twitter staff, primarily censors/moderators (whichever we call them); revealed data on how Biden pressured Twitter under guise of fighting misinformation to censor opinions, memes or stuff that turned out to be factually correct; reversed prior politically motivated looking bans; and deem it as anyway moderate improvement for freedom of speech? The track record for freedom of speech in recent decade wasn't especially encouraging, so we may right now witness combination of lowered expectations and a vicious backslash...
"Good to have some basic democratic ideals in our DNA." Indeed. Just there is an awkward issue that we're seeing effectively two major factions claiming to defend democracy, just somewhat different variants of it.
Один из моих бывших начальников:
Когда говоришь, что думаешь, думай, что говоришь.
Между двумя мировыми войнами в Западной Беларуси (польских Крэсах) было сильное национальное движение беларусов, которое поддерживал Советский Союз. Как только с Польшей было покончено, всех борцов за независимость Беларуси (в том числе коммунистов) тут же расстреляли.
Особенно примечательный случай произошел с редактором первой беларускоязычной газеты "Наша нива" в Российской империи Власовым. Он вышел встречать советских освободителей с корзиной яблок и явился в новообразованный орган власти с предложением своих услуг. Его направили в отдел НКВД, где ему предложили письменно сообщить сведения о себе. Он начал писать. Когда дело дошло до того, что он был сенатором Польского Сейма, ему сказали: Спасибо, этого достаточно.
Больше его никто не видел.
Когда говоришь, что думаешь, думай, что говоришь.
Good advice!
The Belarusian independence advocates were obviously deluded in their beliefs that the Soviets would support the once the invasion of Kresy was complete.
Similarly the collection of reprobates surrounding Trump base their voiced opinions on ideology rather than knowledge or common sense.
They too do not think what they say because they have no understanding of what the things they say actually mean.
• “Citizens cannot participate fully in a democracy unless they have a reasonable understanding of political issues; therefore open debate on such matters is essential”
Meiklejohn 1961
• ‘“Freedom of discussion” is in England little else than the right to write or say anything which a jury of twelve shopkeepers, think it expedient to be said or written’
AV Dicey
• “Every age has its own fascism and we see the warning signs wherever the concentration of power denies citizens the possibility and the means of expressing and acting on their own free will. There are many ways of reaching this point, and not just through the terror of police intimidation, but by denying and distorting information, by undermining systems of justice, by paralyzing the education system, and by spreading in a myriad subtle ways nostalgia for a world where order reigned, and where the security of a privileged few depends on the forced labour and the forced silence of the many”.
Primo Levi (1974)
• ‘Freedom of the press in Britain means freedom to print such of the proprietors prejudices as the advertisers don’t object to’
Hannen Swaffer (in Tom Driberg, Swaff. 1974)
• “We do sometimes have to sacrifice a little of the freedom we cherish in order to defend ourselves from those whose aim is to destroy it altogether”
Margaret Thatcher
А еще меня, иногороднего студента, просветила в Москве одна москвичка, когда мы вместе стояли в очереди за фруктами:
Только дураки говорят женщинам правду (то что думают).
Indeed,there shuold be limits for free speech so as not to be a means of bullying or any kind of hurt.
I think that freedom of speech is a relative issue as it depends on the culture you relate to.
В древней Греции профессиональным ораторам запрещалось применять свое искусство на неподготовленной публике. Оно приравнивалось к определенному виду оружия.
"Оно приравнивалось к определенному виду оружия"
Indeed! The Greeks knew how powerful a weapon oratory was. Similar issues arose in the Roman Republic with the veto.
At the assembly on the Pnyx Hill in ancient Athens, only male citizens were allowed to speak. This included free-born Athenian men who had completed their military training, known as ephebes. Women, slaves, and non-citizens metics were excluded from participating in the political assemblies and could not contribute to discussions or decision-making processes.
The assembly was a key aspect of Athenian democracy, where citizens could voice their opinions on various issues. It should be noted that the right to peak at the assembly did not mean that most free-born actual ever did. The speakers were in the main self-selected and drawn from what we today would refer to as a political class.
In the Roman Republic, the power of veto was primarily held by the tribunes of the plebs. These officials, elected by the plebeians, had the authority to intervene in political matters and block decisions or legislation that they believed were harmful to the interests of the common people.
The tribunes could veto actions taken by the Senate or other magistrates, ensuring that the rights and voices of the plebeians were represented in the political process. Additionally, other magistrates, such as consuls, could also exercise a form of veto power in certain situations, but the tribunes were the most notable for their use of this power as a protective measure for the plebeians.
It is notable that the modern democracies still employ these methods in what we call representative democracy.
Free speech in Russia.
Александр Скобов обвиняет из-за решетки.
Старейший диссидент России Александр Скобов (67 лет) сознательно пошел в тюрьму (фактически на смерть) для того, чтобы его услышали. Ему дали 16 лет. В последнем слове на суде он сказал, что здесь обвиняет он.
Free speech in Belarus'. (free hearing)
Один житель моего родного города ходил на все проходившие в городе политические процессы. В конце концов его самого посадили именно за это.
Market is рынок, but базар is базар. Кто кого перекричит. Jamel knows, what does it mean базар.
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