Yes. We all are free individuals, not tied up! I come from a democratic country where people have the right to information, right to speak, right to act, right of everything.

But, due to some politically triggered discombobulation going on these days, intolerance is on a high!

But, I strongly recommend FREEDOM OF SPEECH to every individual alive on this Earth.

When somebody is free, s/he is to say anything when speech is targetting the regime! But in terms of common ethics, people should never harm other people by speech.

Not at all! They shouldn't be allowed to say anything. Nowadays, we observe that there are a number of individuals who indeed don't understand the true meaning of 'freedom of speech'. They tend to insult prominent personalities in their country and certain regimes are too weak to do something about it. They fear if they do something about it, they might be criticized. There should be a clear definition to freedom of speech and everyone need to respect its confines.

'Freedom of speech' guaranteed by Nation implicitly restrict citizens not to take freedom of others.

It produces democratic value and reinforce 'Dignity' in society.

There are many interesting contributions here. Thank you all! I tend to agree with the notion that freedom of speech cannot be absolute. No hate speech, although that has to be defined. Some restrictions on denials of human equality, even though we are generally unequal! The principle of political equality must be maintained in practice. Freedom of speech must defend the right to criticize political leaders, at least on policy grounds. And so on....

I also tend to take a slightly contrary view: wrong speech, including hate speech, can be allowed as long as the authorities then explain just why it's wrong, and why it must be disallowed.

NOCK