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Advocacy Blog
[ Adonis Jimenez]
[Name of the Institution]
Advocacy Blog
Humans are endowed with some inalienable rights. Aristotle considers man a social and political being in this world. Similarly, John Lock remarks that man was pre-political, but was not pre-social in the state of nature. This social nature of man is responsible for the development of societies. Though, societies are formed when people are mutually dependent on one another, however, it is the social order which keeps societies intact and functional in their real sense. Societies thrive when all its individuals and the social groups within behave responsibly according to their set patterns of life. This harmonious social fabric is only possible when the inalienable rights of each and every individual in the society are kept sacred and safe. Those three basic inalienable rights are: the right to life, the right to liberty and the right to property. No one is allowed to tamper with those rights at any cost. According to John Lock- a famous social thinker and constitutionalist- liberty is the most important right for individuals and societies. This right to liberty is of prime importance to people in a society which guarantees the adequate amount of freedom to everyone in the society. If one goes even deeper, one finds that this freedom of speech is so important as this is the world conflicting nations and interests. Nevertheless, this is the right which is mostly abused and misunderstood in the world. people believe that when they are free in their expression, they are free to express any opinion. It is no blinking the fact that this freedom of expression is the distinguishing feature of this modern world. However, it has to be kept in mind that this freedom of expression must not harm anyone. It should not be mixed with Hate speeches at all. One must keep this maxim in mind that your liberty ends where my nose begins.
Discussion
Freedom of speech, freedom of expression or the right of free speech are all synonymous in this modern world. This is the liberty that today’s modern man enjoys unlike his ancient predecessor. In the archaic world, the ancient man was not free at all. He was caged and faced several chains in his life. Who can forget the famous statement of Jean Jacques Rosseeau that he uttered in the period of enlightenment “Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains”. However, this state of affairs changed when the civic sense of man progressed. Freedom of expression is the distinguishing feature of this modern world as it is well-elaborated in Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948). To further cement the importance of free speech, several constitutions in the world have incorporated this liberty to promote individual’s rights in the society. This is definitely the great achievement of this modern world. Nevertheless, the exercise of such freedom needs some consideration as well. To begin with, freedom of speech should be limited. It should be limited in a sense that it must conform to the just ethical patterns of living. Freedom is not some license to say or do anything one wants. Besides, the heathy social life needs the proper implementation of Harm principle of the famous social thinker John Stuart Mill. Mill opines that every freedom is justified when it does not hurt others (O'Rourke, 2001). Any act of a person is legitimate when it does not harm others. Conversely, if this freedom of expression runs counter to this principle and injures the sentiments of other associates in the society, this is not a freedom. It is misuse of freedom by the offender. Hence, this freedom of speech should be limited in a sense that it must keep the harm and hurt principle intact.Furthermore, if there are no limitations on the freedom of expression then people abuse this right very often. There have been several notorious incidents in the world where this free speech was manipulated under the guise of hate speech. For instance, take the example of Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015. This incident took place in Paris where two gunmen opened the fire in office. This is grotesque and heinous crime but it has a background as well. This reaction came when the right of free speech was abuse by the journalists sitting in Charlie Hebdo office (Titley, Freedman, & Khiabany, November 2017). They played with the sentiments of people belonging to other faith and those people reacted in that way. Though, the reacting was not sensible at all but the it was triggered due to hate speech. The journalist did not care for the limits and degraded other community in France which engendered the feeling of resentment in the society. as a result, this cataclysmic event took place that shook the world. It is noteworthy that Freedom of speech is not hate speech at al. No one is allowed to say anything which can trigger such ill-feelings among others. By no means, free speech can be mixed with hate speeches. So, it is necessary to put limitations on free expression to keep this right sacrosanct for society and its members. Moreover, the idea that free speech should have imitations is valid because anything unlimited is not good for social fabric and social harmony. Liberty is a noble right and it is necessary to maintain it that way. The right kind of liberty is the one which is under the sanctions of law. Anything which is ungoverned by law is not a good for the harmonious equilibrium of the society. This is the view of the famous political thinker Montesquieu who explained this philosophy in his book in the spirit of laws. He opined that all power should not be concentrated in the one section of the society (Montesquieu, 1989). It must be devolved among all basic units that so there is no chance of despotism in the society. Thus, valid limits on free speech are necessary to maintain its inherent good in the society as powerful people must not be allowed to mishandle it.
Conclusion
n a nutshell, it is concluded from the above discussion that freedom of expression is essential for the healthy social life in this modern world. However, it is mandatory to keep in mind that free speech should have limits as well. The right of free speech must be exercised which some guidelines. It is necessary to maintain that no one should be hurt with your expression, nor it should create any feeling of resentment. Liberty is not a license to hurt others. Even hate speeches are guised under the label of free speech as it happened in the case of Charlie Hebdo. Nevertheless, this thing must be kept in mind that one’s liberty has limits and liberty of a person end where the nose of other person begins. This is the prime responsibility of this civilized to show utmost regard to other communities of the world. Freedom of speech is no doubt and inalienable right of every individual, but every right come with the duty to act responsibly and dutifully with it.
References
Montesquieu. (1989). The Spirit of the Laws.
O'Rourke, K. (2001). John Stuart Mill and Freedom of Expression. London: Routledge.
Titley, G., Freedman, D. (., & Khiabany, G. a. (November 2017). After Charlie Hebdo: Terror, Racism and Free Speech. London: Zed Books. .
United Nations. (1948). Retrieved from United Nations: https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
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