Restricting Free Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Restricting Free Speech - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that freedom of speech or rather freedom of expression is the political right to communicate one’s ideas or opinions. While freedom of speech is used synonymously with freedom of expression, the latter includes all acts of seeking, receiving or imparting ideas or information, regardless of the medium use. In this case, it may entail the use of newspapers, the internet, radio, televisions, fliers, and so on. In most cases, governments restrict, with varying limitations, how citizens may express themselves. Some of the most common limitations of speech may be related to obscenity, right to privacy, slander, libel, sedition, pornography, fighting words, hate speech, incitement, copyright violation, trade secrets, non-disclosure agreements, right to be forgotten, public nuisance, public security, public order, classified information, oppression and campaign finance reform. There are those that support freedom of expression and believe th at there should be no way the government should limit it. On the other hand, there are those that believe that freedom of expression may not be an exquisite idea of any community and that the government should limit the citizen from expression themselves or rather communicate their thoughts. This paper will be looking at the second scenario, why free speech should be restricted. The world is made up of a very diverse group of people. There are Africans, Asians, Europeans, Americans, Latinos, and so on. There are also several different races. In some unfortunate instances, there are people from particular races that believe they should not integrate with the other races as they are superior to them. Such groups of people have existed. If people were allowed to practice absolute freedom of expression, then it may turn out gruesome. People would be spouting racist, homophobic, nationalist, and very offensive views about others and on their defense, they would say that they are practici ng ‘free speech’. This is not a very pleasant situation. With the freedom of expression, racial abuse still exists, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) legally exist and the Neo-Nazis prove particularly difficult to stop. All these are groups of people that preach contempt and hatred towards the minority group that spurs conflicts that sometimes lead to loss of lives. In reality, freedom of speech just exists to promote liberty among different groups of people. Unfortunately, there are those who do not realize this and most of the time misuse the freedom.