Freedom of SpeechLet’s Stop The BS – Huffington Post

Tom Lowery Entrepreneur, author, financial controller, corporate training specialist This post is hosted on the Huffington Post's Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and post freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

To be ignorant of ones ignorance is the malady of the ignorant.

Amos Bronson Alcott

The populist viewpoint, that we can say whatever we want to, appears to reign supremely on the topic of Freedom of Speech (and Freedom of Expression). A well-considered perspective about it, one that questions itself constantly, is rarely the case.

And yet, the Western mentalityand those who claim to have Enlightenment values of evidentiary thinking, rationality, objectivity, and independent thoughtconsistently displays an astounding lack of sophistication and depth when it comes to understanding the world and how it really works, as opposed to how they assume it works, or even how they might like it to work.

Many hold the view that we live in a society that protects all forms of speech. Thats a pretense upon which no facts are in evidence. Perhaps if we compare our Western societies with those of many in the East, it might appear to be so. But that position rests on very soft ground.

Theres nothing "free" about free speech. The very nature of speech is that it carries a price-tagprivilege.

In truth, freedom of speech is a sometime thing. When we do enjoy freedom of speech we do so while exercising our privilegesnot rights. Otherwise, why would our Founding Fathers have gone to such great lengths to enshrine those very privileges within our Constitution?

In his well conceived article for The Federalist Blog, Original MeaningFreedom of Speech and of the Press, P.A. Madison expounded on many factual assessments, including these two:

A blanket acceptance that everyone has the right to freedom of speech, regardless of how hateful, is insulting to anyone who has thought long and hard about all sides of the concept. Do we really have the right (i.e. privilege) to be racists and bigots and to insult and to cause harm with impunity? Or is there a price to pay when we overstep those rights (i.e. privileges)? The latter is more often true than not.

The problem with a lack of critical thought versus blas acceptance is that its enshrined in a dishonest claim: we in West stand for a universal "right" to offend and freedom of expression. Do we really?

Anyone who is considering the concepts of FOS/FOE might like to set aside their unfettered positions and reflect more carefully before digging their feet too firmly into their own soft ground.

In todays world, we do not accept racist depictions of American Indians or Blacks or Hispanics, negative stereotypes of gays or anti-Semitic cartoons. Our Western society has shifted greatly when it comes to drawing a line between hate speech and acceptable speech. In fact, for hundreds of years in the West, speaking out against things like religion or politics was also unacceptable, and could land you in what the English refer to as Queer Street. Thats hardly the makings of free and unfettered speechis it?

The topic of FOS/FOE, became a hot button one around the time of the Charlie Hebdo shooting (prompted by Islamic cartoons). Some argued that we should ban these kinds of cartoons because they cause upset and insult to others. The French people rose up in unison about their rights to FOS/FOE.

Despite the fact that the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (adopted during the French Revolution in 1789) set forth freedom of speech as an inalienable right, Article 11 goes on to say that:

This clearly suggests a fine line when it comes to FOS. But as with our Founding Fathers, many of us dislike bans of any kind. We dont trust the state when it comes to censorship, largely because of how the state often protects the freedom of the privileged and suppresses the freedom of the disenfranchised. A glance at our current POTUS and the Betsy DeVos debacle are fine examples.

A friend of mine suggested that Article 11 in Frances Declaration put those rights back into the hands of the legislature. But this very legislative process allows for the privilege of FOS/FOE. To put it crassly, the chicken is the legislationthe egg is the privilege. And the chickenat least in this casecame first.

Rather than debate to ban or not to ban, perhaps a better idea would be to consider why we have allowed ourselves the luxury to develop our Western culture in such a way that the feelings of othersin the case of Hebdo, Muslims, and, despite questionable Prop 8 activities, Mormonsare not as legitimate and can be discarded.

At the time of the Hebdo business, I too was inclined to think Hebdo was merely exercising its Freedom of Expression. I was never bothered by any of their depictions over the years, why should anyone else be? Ive since had reason to regret my own shallow assumptions.

Had I paused to consider Hebdo from a perspective other than my own, I might have realized Hebdo had a responsibility along with their privileges. In exercising their own benefits, did they in fact reinforce Islamophobia? Other writers said as much at the time. Where my ears closed? Or was I ignoring the obvious because I wasnt personally involved in that particular issue?

We obviously have no issues when it comes to protecting some groups from potentially racist-based attacks. Yet others are cannon fodder for our privileges to FOS/FOE. Thats a helluva lot of hypocrisy.

We here in the West have double standards when it comes to FOS/FOEbe they standards of the far right or the far left. The same is true when it comes to immigrants, citizenship and many other interrelated issues.

Until our so-called Western values relating to FOS/FOE become well-balanced between our own privileges and the privileges of others, I personally cannot bang on about mine when it comes to speaking my mind (something I do freely).

Its time to stop the bullshit and open up a sensible dialogue, free from populist beliefs and comfort zones. How can we do that? Here are a few suggestions:

When weve begun to question more about our so-called superior Western values and systems, perhaps the signs carried by the left and the right while marching and demonstrating might have a more constructive and instructive appeal.

Who knows? People might even begin to think twice about their reactive comments onlineeven me.

See original here:
Freedom of SpeechLet's Stop The BS - Huffington Post