Freedom of Speech Mill and Freiberg
THE MOST MEANINGFUL FREEDOM
Freedom of speech is the key element of the real democracies. Freedom of speech is also concerned to the idea that people can speak freely without being stopped, or censored. Freedom of speech is briefly hallmark of democracy because democracy is based on independent thoughts of people. In a democratic society people are allowed to express their views freely and peacefully. There will be no democracy if freedom of speech isn't granted to people. Where there is freedom of speech, new ideas and thoughts are made available by the members of the society through free dialogues, discussions and debates. Thus, the right of freedom of speech is a necessary condition for creating a healthy and democratic society in which, people inhabiting a particular country. On the other hand freedom of speech cannot exist under the monopoly. Therefore freedom of speech should be equally and fairly granted to everyone without any privileges from the poor to the wealthier who are living within a society. As introduced in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ first Article (1948), “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” However people do not live the same life standards, religions or other similar reasons. Therefore they may feel antagonism and antipathy towards other different ones and their understanding of freedom might bring offensive, insulting or sometimes harming problems. I believe that offensive or insulting speeches may also cause some psychological harm but the degree or the type of these speeches might be depended on individuals and any authority should not have the right what type of speeches might be offensive or a hate speech. Furthermore the best way that I find more efficient than censorships is only to prevent other individuals from physical harms. Therefore I find J. S. Mill’s Harm Principle more logical approach in order to establish a democratic society. Although I think that we cannot decide on
Freedom of speech is the key element of the real democracies. Freedom of speech is also concerned to the idea that people can speak freely without being stopped, or censored. Freedom of speech is briefly hallmark of democracy because democracy is based on independent thoughts of people. In a democratic society people are allowed to express their views freely and peacefully. There will be no democracy if freedom of speech isn't granted to people. Where there is freedom of speech, new ideas and thoughts are made available by the members of the society through free dialogues, discussions and debates. Thus, the right of freedom of speech is a necessary condition for creating a healthy and democratic society in which, people inhabiting a particular country. On the other hand freedom of speech cannot exist under the monopoly. Therefore freedom of speech should be equally and fairly granted to everyone without any privileges from the poor to the wealthier who are living within a society. As introduced in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ first Article (1948), “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” However people do not live the same life standards, religions or other similar reasons. Therefore they may feel antagonism and antipathy towards other different ones and their understanding of freedom might bring offensive, insulting or sometimes harming problems. I believe that offensive or insulting speeches may also cause some psychological harm but the degree or the type of these speeches might be depended on individuals and any authority should not have the right what type of speeches might be offensive or a hate speech. Furthermore the best way that I find more efficient than censorships is only to prevent other individuals from physical harms. Therefore I find J. S. Mill’s Harm Principle more logical approach in order to establish a democratic society. Although I think that we cannot decide on
References: Freedom of Speech Text (2008), Stanford Encyclopedia of Phylosophy Web Site, Retrieved in March 23, 2009 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freedom-speech/ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1941), United Nations Web Site, Retrieved in March 23, 2009 from http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html Yayla, Atilla Prof. Dr. (2005), İfade Özgürlüğü ' ' Sağlıklı Bir Toplumun Ön Şartı, Zaman Newspaper Web Site, Retrieved in March 23, 2009 from http://www.zaman.com.tr/haber.do?haberno=179465 ----------------------- 6