I have been thinking of writing a diary on this subject [with a touch of humor, I hope] for quite awhile now. I have come to the conclusion that rather than trying to explain it all by myself that I would call on the thoughts of some truly great thinkers.
The first is the one that I call the Mark Twain "freedom to think before you speak" clause.
It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.
Neatly explained by Soren Kierkegaard
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
Then we move on to the Voltaire "I take full responsibility" rule
We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard
Then again as Sigmund Freud points out [somewhat snarkily] the dangers have been ameliorated:
What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.
So we progress to censorship and its potential benefits as highlighted by Mae West [some may say she was not a great philosopher, but I blow a raspberry in your general direction]
I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.
We all hail "freedom of speech", except when we don't I call it the Noam Chomsky test:
If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.
I say the more they put their foot in it, the harder Karma will bite them.
Which is where I come to the Amnesty International limitations clause:
We strongly believe that as long as it's not undermining someone else's rights, everyone should be able to say what they want, without fear of persecution.
At this point I can picture wingnuts running behind the curtains and screaming "no fair".
I would at this point note that, the louder I hear people howl about freedom of speech, the more they seem inclined to trying to take away the freedom of others.
As a side note: I found this debate on thee Freedom of Speech very interesting
http://freespeechdebate.com/...
I suppose my argument is that on the whole most people take what they say seriously, it is the fire starters that make the news however, it is therefore our responsibility to speak up when faced with such people. It is also the duty of our press and representatives to do the same, rather than blowing on the flames for political gain.
So I will return to Voltaire one more time.
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.