[PAX] What does free expression mean to you?

Free expression to me is the ability for you to voice your opinion and be respected for it as long as it doesn't demean or insult another person with a contradicting point of view. The person opposing the point of view of another should peacefully and respectfully explain why he/she believes the way they do and allow the other party to consider such discussion in a way that doesn't insult the people involved.

Though, I believe all this is very idealistic. Along the road comes a spider and BAM it all goes to waste.

 

Different countries place different limitations on freedom of speech but I think you either believe in freedom of expression or you don't. Believing in it may mean fighting for the right of someone, who's view you may hate, to express that view.

One high profile case was Noam Chomsky fighting for the right of a Holocaust denier to speak. He was accused of supporting Holocaust denial and all sorts of other disgusting smears but really he was just standing up for what he saw as someones fundamental right, even though he did not agree with what that person was saying.

I think if you put restrictions on freedom of speech it can be abused. Flows of information can be disrupted. We can't evolve our ideas without information. One of the causes of democratic deficit is the control and manipulation of information by power elites.