Up@dawn 2.0

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

When is free speech not free?

(H3) If you don't know much about me, I'm big on the mentality of if you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide and if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all. The former applies to my view on privacy. I really don't care about privacy when it comes to the idea of "government infringement." If someone, big brother, wants to look through my life and personal information, by all means have at it; they will be thoroughly bored with the information they find. As to the latter statement about saying nothing, I think this applies directly to the free speech debate I attended. I am very thankful for my right to say anything I want or feel, whenever and wherever I want. However, just because I can doesn’t mean I should. That’s how I feel about hate speech. Just because someone has the right to say whatever they want doesn’t mean they should. In my opinion, if you are taking the time to voice your opinion to the public, take the time to formulate a decisive and thought-provoking argument. There is a tactful way to say things and support your ideas. If you have to resort to hate speech, calling people names or being simply rude, perhaps you don't have enough evidence to back up your argument. Not many citizens, in different countries, get the freedom to speak their mind, especially in opposition to the central government. Take advantage of the fact that you can speak your mind, but also remember to exercise restraint and formulate informative responses. If you want to change the world with your words, make your words matter.

8 comments:

  1. When it comes to the hate speech of others, I see no choice but to defend it. If I enforce laws that deny the right to voice opinions, the one thing I'm not doing is changing any opinions. I'd prefer to know the hate inside a person, at least then a discussion can take place that may enlighten a hateful person.

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    1. (H3) I totally understand where you are coming from and why you defend it. Free speech is valuable and it's hypocritical to say I have the right to voice my ideas but you can't. It just gets under my skin at times when people spew such hate.

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  2. When it comes to the hate speech of others, I see no choice but to defend it. If I enforce laws that deny the right to voice opinions, the one thing I'm not doing is changing any opinions. I'd prefer to know the hate inside a person, at least then a discussion can take place that may enlighten a hateful person.

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  3. I agree that hate speech should be defended, but I would disagree that it is the best way to go about changing the opinion of others

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  4. When I comes to where you talk about privacy, I can't say I agree. Though I also have nothing to hide and if someone were to look into my life they would be bored, I still would be very against it. My life is mine and no one else's to see into so I cannot stand the idea of big brother.

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  5. I also agree with Sean. Although I might not have done anything wrong, why should someone have to monitor what I do? It's like I don't have a complete freedom over my life because someone's keeping me in check.

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    1. (H3) I don't believe when people are "monitoring" my media and communications they are keeping me in check? Except in cases of criminal activity (terrorism, sexual exploitation, etc.), the government doesn't do anything with their accumulated data. I'd rather them filter out the bad and, hopefully, prevent worse than ban them from monitoring us because I don't want them to see my internet history.

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  6. Kaite Berry H0112:11 PM CST

    The internet thing is something I have been saying for years to no avail with many people. People simply want their privacy and don't want Joe from across the country to see the porn they've been looking at or that their cheating on their girlfriend Jessica. My only thing is if you are not doing any major crimes, as in terrorism or murder, the government is not going to care that much. In my opinion, and I'm sure someone will soon tell me that I am wrong, the pot smokers and sexters are safe. The government itself is not going to hunt you down to put you in jail for the conversation you had with your friend about that one time you smoked. That's just my opinion but I don't see it as that major honestly.

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