The main reason people argue for limiting free speech is that because words are very powerful, one person can start a riot simply by shouting controversial words or sentences in highly populated areas. This is true, but I seriously doubt that most people even know that saying certain things is illegal, so why bother to invent a law restricting what we say?
As I'm quite liberal, I also dislike the fact that there is a large body of people telling me what I can and cannot say. It's almost like bullying someone into saying only what that group of people wants people to say. I don't take any notice of these laws, and I doubt it will result in me being arrested but it's a ridiculous concept, limiting what we can and cannot say.
As Martin Luther King said
"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws. But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
Obviously he used this in a different context, but it can still be applied here too.
Usually actions are illegal. In this case it is speech itself that is being made illegal (well, in some cases) and speech is not an action in the same sense that physical actions are actions. People choose how they react to things, and speech is something that a person has a wide range of choices to choose from when reacting to it, unlike for example being attacked, where you only have two options, fight or flight.
Surely then the government isn't going to let a minority of people who cannot think for themselves and choose to react idiotically to things that they hear and disagree with be responsible for the limitation of every other citizen's free speech in the country? But apparently so. Our government has definitely started to give minority groups good treatment, it could even be argued preferential treatment. But what about the masses? What do we do?
It has gotten to the point now where we cannot even express ourselves using speech without that being limited. We can no longer say whatever we please. That really is quite depressing for those of us of a liberal persuasion. It is a blatant affront to arguably the most important human right we possess: freedom of expression. And where would we be without it? There would have been no revolutions, no banning of slavery, nobody would have confronted injustice. I believe it is imperative that this right of ours is never limited in any way.
I hope this changes, but in the mean time I will continue to say whatever I damn well please regardless of whether some idiot in London wants me to say it or not. Thanks for reading.
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