Poll: Free Speech, Necessary?

[Agayek]

you may be right to say that to shut down any form of free speech is to curtail the creation of ideas, but shut down a form of free speech (i.e the preeching of hate on broadcast) is exactly what we have done, and statistics show that it has saved alot of lives.

Is it only because people can't preach to kill blacks? Or is it because we've evolved culturally, to be mostly beyond that point? I could throw up coincidental statistics all day, that doesn't mean they're related. They may well be, but I, and the vast majority of the populous of this board, don't have the wherewithal to conclusively prove it one way or the other.

And honestly, people will behave as the authorities expect them to behave. If the government expects everyone to have restraint, self-control, and personal responsibility, the vast majority of people will. If the government expects them to be lazy, apathetic, and greedy, then they will be.

Treat people as responsible, reasonable people, and the vast majority will end up as such. The rest are the degenerate lowlifes that are worthless no matter what anyone does.

And on a side note, I would actually be fairly interested in the results of a study wherein people are exposed to a) nothing, b) "preaching hate", and c) "preaching hate" and explanations/outcries against it. I'll have to look around and see if I can find anything similar.

 

[cartzo]

you may be right to say that to shut down any form of free speech is to curtail the creation of ideas, but shut down a form of free speech (i.e the preeching of hate on broadcast) is exactly what we have done, and statistics show that it has saved alot of lives.

Is it only because people can't preach to kill blacks? Or is it because we've evolved culturally, to be mostly beyond that point? I could throw up coincidental statistics all day, that doesn't mean they're related. They may well be, but I, and the vast majority of the populous of this board, don't have the wherewithal to conclusively prove it one way or the other.

And honestly, people will behave as the authorities expect them to behave. If the government expects everyone to have restraint, self-control, and personal responsibility, the vast majority of people will. If the government expects them to be lazy, apathetic, and greedy, then they will be.

Treat people as responsible, reasonable people, and the vast majority will end up as such. The rest are the degenerate lowlifes that are worthless no matter what anyone does.

And on a side note, I would actually be fairly interested in the results of a study wherein people are exposed to a) nothing, b) "preaching hate", and c) "preaching hate" and explanations/outcries against it. I'll have to look around and see if I can find anything similar.

i think it is more to do with the fact people cant preach hate any more, when a country like the uk (a country were it is illegal to preach hate) is compared to a country like (a country with complete freedom of speech where preaching hate is legal) you will see that in america the still shockingly high statistics of racially or homophobically motivated violence havnt changed since the late 80's, whereas in the uk the statistics of this kind of violence is now very low and it has been getting lower since preaching hate was made illegal.

in a way we have evolved culturally, but i think these laws aided in that.

 

[Combined]

Give them too much of it and they'll get greedy and want more than that. Soon you're going to have to start divulging national secrets and other goodies.

Give them too little and they riot, which may throw you out of office.

In short, I'd say that Free Speech is good, but up to a point.

 

[Thirsk]

Free speech is good, no doubt about it. Of course there's always human shits who'll have the right to preach hate, but then again, I have the right to tell them they're a bunch of assholes who're out on a tangent, so it's really not a problem.

Also, anyone not finding free speech a good idea should imagine a society where disliking Halo 3 is prosecutable by law and reading this thread is a punishable crime. Of course it's taking everything to an extreme, but that's the essence of a society lacking free speech.

 

[Agayek]

i think it is more to do with the fact people cant preach hate any more, when a country like the uk (a country were it is illegal to preach hate) is compared to a country like (a country with complete freedom of speech where preaching hate is legal) you will see that in america the still shockingly high statistics of racially or homophobically motivated violence havnt changed since the late 80's, whereas in the uk the statistics of this kind of violence is now very low and it has been getting lower since preaching hate was made illegal.

in a way we have evolved culturally, but i think these laws aided in that.

Maybe, like I said, I have no idea.

That said, I would much rather live in a world where my life is in danger, but I can say whatever the hell I please.

Give them too much of it and they'll get greedy and want more than that. Soon you're going to have to start divulging national secrets and other goodies.

Give them too little and they riot, which may throw you out of office.

In short, I'd say that Free Speech is good, but up to a point.

Free Speech doesn't mean full disclosure. It doesn't even mean any disclosure. It means I can walk up to you and say "The government is full of dipshits" without penalty.

 

[WittyName]

It is a good thing to have. Like most good things though, there will always be people who will seek to abuse it.

 

[ExaltedK9]

Your topic title and question posed aren't exactly the same.
Is it good to have? Yes.
Is it necessary for people to be happy? No.

Free speech is good, but unfortunately...most people are idiots.

 

[cartzo]

i think it is more to do with the fact people cant preach hate any more, when a country like the uk (a country were it is illegal to preach hate) is compared to a country like (a country with complete freedom of speech where preaching hate is legal) you will see that in america the still shockingly high statistics of racially or homophobically motivated violence havnt changed since the late 80's, whereas in the uk the statistics of this kind of violence is now very low and it has been getting lower since preaching hate was made illegal.

in a way we have evolved culturally, but i think these laws aided in that.

Maybe, like I said, I have no idea.

That said, I would much rather live in a world where my life is in danger, but I can say whatever the hell I please.

Give them too much of it and they'll get greedy and want more than that. Soon you're going to have to start divulging national secrets and other goodies.

Give them too little and they riot, which may throw you out of office.

In short, I'd say that Free Speech is good, but up to a point.

Free Speech doesn't mean full disclosure. It doesn't even mean any disclosure. It means I can walk up to you and say "The government is full of dipshits" without penalty.

alright ive made 8 posts on this thread and i am now clincly bored, lets just agree to disagree ok, we're not in a court room after all.

same to you if you're reading this lockheart.

 

[vampirekid.13]

In another thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.112660], I discussed human rights in Saudi Arabia. Here, The Topic is Freedom of speech, is it good or bad?

Of course, the awnser by the majority will be yes, (I'll be among them) but many people, see free speech as a barrier to progress, a way for the bad guys to harm us, and bigots to make people evil, I can think of many flaws in their argument, but I'll stop a wall of text, and let you guys awnser.

free speech can get in the way of progress yes.


free speech opens up society to mob mentality, a mob does not know whats good for it and should stfu.

 

[LockHeart]

i think it is more to do with the fact people cant preach hate any more, when a country like the uk (a country were it is illegal to preach hate) is compared to a country like (a country with complete freedom of speech where preaching hate is legal) you will see that in america the still shockingly high statistics of racially or homophobically motivated violence havnt changed since the late 80's, whereas in the uk the statistics of this kind of violence is now very low and it has been getting lower since preaching hate was made illegal.

in a way we have evolved culturally, but i think these laws aided in that.

Maybe, like I said, I have no idea.

That said, I would much rather live in a world where my life is in danger, but I can say whatever the hell I please.

Give them too much of it and they'll get greedy and want more than that. Soon you're going to have to start divulging national secrets and other goodies.

Give them too little and they riot, which may throw you out of office.

In short, I'd say that Free Speech is good, but up to a point.

Free Speech doesn't mean full disclosure. It doesn't even mean any disclosure. It means I can walk up to you and say "The government is full of dipshits" without penalty.

alright ive made 8 posts on this thread and i am now clincly bored, lets just agree to disagree ok, we're not in a court room after all.

same to you if you're reading this lockheart.

Sorry, been snowed under with work recently.

Agreed.

 

[LOOY]

Free speech will never exist until I can say "Paedophiles are cool" and not be killed, not saying they are, just making a point.

 

[WiwuX]

The problem with limits is that YOU aren't the one setting them. I am not terribly fond of racism, and I think that expressing this should be banned.

Sucks to be you, says the government and says that expressing the idea of equality between ethnicities is banned.

In a world without free speech we wouldn't be allowed to discuss government policies such as, for example, free speech.

 

[BlackJack47]

A good thing in theory though abuse can happen =[

 

[traceur_]

it depends

this

 

[LockHeart]

Free speech will never exist until I can say "Paedophiles are cool" and not be killed, not saying they are, just making a point.

You're perfectly free to say that, no-one can legally take action to stop you.