Freedom of Speech; should be restricted or not?

It is never appropriate for our government to restrict freedom for speech

PREMISES

               

   Yes, freedom of speech should not be restricted because everyone has their own rights to speak out their opinion on anything. Freedom of speech itself is basically giving opinion about the country, so everyone would have their own chance to voice their thinking. “We are a nation of laws, some of which we don’t agree with, but supposedly protect us and benefit us. Freedom of speech is contained in the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment to the Constitution, so obviously it’s pretty important, and apparently more complicated than I thought”, (Mason,2018). This means that it is important for us as a citizen to criticize about the country because sometimes others would not realize the real issue or problem in the country.

     If the government restrict freedom of speech, it will create a huge gap between the ruler and the citizens. Both sides need each other in terms of support and help and a ruler supposed to voice out the citizens’ thought in order to achieve harmony state. If the ruler ignores his people’s opinion, then how he can communicate well with them? Timms (2016) stated that, “free speech is not only about your ability to speak but the ability to listen to others and allow other views to be heard. It is important for the government to take concern of the citizen’s well-being. The citizen’s contributions are everywhere in the aspects to make a country grow. If the citizens are unhappy, how a country can work as usual when the energy that comes from it are mostly from human.” The government need to make sure the citizens can voice out their words so it is not appropriate for the government to restrict the freedom for speech

COUNTER ARGUMENTS

     Government should always restrict the freedom of speech because if it is not restricted, it is a very dangerous thing and can bring to the country’s doom. Young people will discover profanity earlier than they should and it might influence their thinking with bad stuffs that are already happening such as extremists, homosexuals and more. It can also make countries to declare war on each other. If not a war, in the country itself there will be thousands of protests, riots and outbreaks that will come when the government does not restrict freedom of speech. It is inevitable that protests will rise but it is at least being governed by law instead of blindly being free from it. “With this newfound freedom, discussions and criticisms about race and religion, for better or worse, have become widespread online, and it is understandable that some may be uncomfortable about open discussions of such sensitive subjects. Others may feel defensive of their religious or racial identity, and upset that others are seemingly dismissive of what is an integral part of their person and identity”, Paulsen (2019) which clearly shows that freedom of speech brings harm effect to the society and also the country.

               

    The restriction of freedom of speech is a good way to protect the peacefulness of the country from being judged by its own citizens and prevent from being colonized by the invaders. Besides, most of the people are actually criticizing from what they saw without any strong evidence. If it has, the would point out emotionally and aggressively which will bring more consequences towards the country’s safety. Sometimes, there will be a group of people that intentionally create chaos and riots just to trigger society’s trust towards the government. It will not only divide the unity; the government also will be overthrown.

References

Mason, T. (2018, February 15). Freedom of Speech Restrictions. Retrieved from https://owlcation.com/social-sciences/Some-Freedom-of-Speech-Needs-Restrictions

Paulsen, E. (2019, January 6). Take freedom of speech seriously. The Star Online. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/01/06/take-freedom-of-speech-seriously-we-cannot-legislate-away-our-fundamental-problems-and-we-certainly/

Timms, J. (2016, April 13). Why is free speech important?. Retrieved from https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2016/04/free-speech-important/