Free Speech
In the UK, I think a majority of the people that live here believe free speech in a society is a good thing but they also want harsh limits on free speech and it is constantly being further restricted. In my view, there isn’t really a difference between free speech and thought. One depends on the other and if you can’t express a thought in some way, it is meaningless.
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 means that anything said that causes alarm or distress (anything that can be offensive to someone) will mean you can be punished for it. This can make someone nervous to express their views and that is exactly what laws like these are for. Blasphemy laws are in place in this country.
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear” - George Orwell.
United States
Free speech in the US is far less restrictive than the UK. I think most of their laws are fine but it is a little worrying seeing a few things such as compelled speech for products sold and more importantly companies receiving national security letters requiring them to disclose information to the government and being gagged from telling their users about the order.
Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express “the thought that we hate”. United States v. Schwimmer, 279 U. S. 644, 655 (1929) (Holmes, J., dissenting).
Protest
It is a human right to be able to protest yet the British government don’t seem to care. New laws mean any protest that can be considered a “serious disruption” as seen by the police can be shut down by the police. This can include many things such as being too loud. Have a read.
Security Versus Free Speech
Security is not a good enough reason to sacrifice something so basic. Free speech can lead to a lot of horrific actions to be committed but I will always take liberty over security. I guess this depends on what an individual believes. Some would prefer security even if they may lose much of their liberty later on since they don’t really have free speech to be able to say something about it.
Surveillance and Free Speech
Everyone knows that when you feel like you are being watched, depending on who it is, you will act a certain way. Constantly being watched means people can’t express their opinion freely. Mass surveillance only gets worse in the UK and when an even worse government comes into power, they will have a lot of the resources needed to shut down anything they do not like. Government surveillance needs harsh limits to protect simple things such as free speech.
Are These Restrictions Not What The People Want?
I don’t think most people want restrictions that go this far but I don’t think it even matters. Some things are fundamental to life and one of those is the right to free speech and I don’t want the tyranny of the majority destroying that. For such important things, democracy should not come before liberty.
John Locke
Locke wrote that all individuals are equal in the sense that they are born with certain “inalienable” natural rights. That is, rights that are God-given and can never be taken or even given away. Among these fundamental natural rights, Locke said, are “life, liberty, and property.” God bless you John Locke.