Freedom of Speech is a Human Right

Lately, freedom of speech seems to be under siege by illiberal forces that can't seem to handle that humans should have rights, and it should be cause for alarm.

Lets be clear - no, we will never have absolute freedom to say whatever we want whenever. That isn't achievable. We know this. BUT, that doesn't mean we should look for new ways to curb our freedom of speech or celebrate when freedom of speech is infringed upon.

It is important to maintain freedom of speech as much as possible. This is to the benefit of everyone, including those who are so quick to give it up.

Of course there will be unsavory speech that will make some absolutely cringe. But, what does one achieve by "banning" speech, or infringing on the rights of others to freely express themselves? And what makes those wanting to give up freedom of speech and expression so quickly think that everything they say is okay and won't be affected by this? There really is an arrogance about thinking that curtailing freedom of speech will only affect the "bad guys" and not good people like them.

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The thing is, when people do go down the road of infringing on freedom of speech, where exactly will it end? How does one determine the limits of what speech is acceptable and what isn't? Who decides in our societies what is and what isn't acceptable to say? Who should be put in charge of that? And what guidelines will they use? It could just keep creeping and creeping, constantly enveloping more and more speech. The urge to do that must be curbed. Protecting as much speech as possible is the best way to go. Yes, this IS a slippery slope we are looking at.

Personally, I consider myself a liberal. My first true understanding of the concept of free speech came with the Salman Rushdie "Satanic Verses" controversy in 1988. After publishing a book deemed by some Muslims to be blasphemous, a fatwa was issued by Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, calling for Rushdie's death. The writer had to go into hiding for 10 years after that fatwa. Millions of Muslims took to the streets to call for his execution. It scared the crap out of me. How on earth could all of this happen over a book??

And yet, despite the fact that Rushdie had to go into hiding and had his life threatened, there were those who claim to be Western liberals who actually felt that Rushdie was at fault and shouldn't have written such an inflammatory book. They were willing to throw both Rushdie and freedom of speech under the bus. Even Prince Charles pulled the, "Well, he insulted something people strongly believe in, soooo..." blame the victim game.

We now live in the digital age. So much of our communication as a species is done online, and specifically on a handful of platforms, like Facebook and Twitter. A heck of a lot of power has been consolidated into a few major corporations who now can override governments when it comes to freedom of speech and expression. The threat to freedom of speech is not as much from the government, but from the private sector, from these companies that transcend borders and have immense power. They are even controlling what governments or political leaders are allowed to say and not say online, including Donald Trump. That is concerning, and has governments and leaders, like Angela Merkel, rightly criticizing social media companies.

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Over and over, writers, artists, academics will call for curtailments of freedom of speech. And it makes no sense. These are people that rely on freedom of speech and expression to do their jobs. They are only shooting themselves in the foot when they rail against this freedom.

The ease at which some are willing to give up on the concept of free speech, and even just want to hand it over and get rid of it is astonishing. And the thing is, when that happens, it isn't just those people who are willing to toss it aside that are affected. We are ALL affected each and every time freedoms are curtailed. All of us.