My feelings to 'Freedom of Speech'
As a blogger and someone involved in media, I feel it is important to make clear my feelings on freedom of speech. The liberties and freedoms of the press, television and radio are, at the present time, in this country highly reasonable if not a little over censored. I'm not saying that I feel that individuals should be subjected to visions of violence or pain but think that we should have the right to choose what we would like to see as long as no other individuals have been harmed in the process and as long as we are considered at an age in which we can be judged for our actions legally.
I personally find it difficult to understand the minds of those that watch extreme violence and or hardcore pornography and gain satisfaction from such yet a brief look through the history of violence within humanity (ie. public execution and witch burning) explains that some of us somehow have a thirst for the obscure. I also personally find it difficult to watch a lot of the media and particularly drama that we are subjected to but vote with my remote rather than expect others to agree with my critiques.
Our society has developed laws to protect against the extreme members of our society that appear to not have evolved in their minds at the same rate as their surrounding culture and although I do not believe it is necessary to maintain a status quo, I do believe and expect that those who delve around the acceptable boundaries such as those who choose to test our justice system are able to state their reason before any conviction.
Nonetheless... a debate has kicked off in Australian politics where free speech laws could mean that it will become acceptable to publicly harass or bully individuals of another race. I feel that although we should have a right to free speech that if such a law is passed then it will mark a sad day for humanity.
We should all be regarded as equal regardless of our country of origin and should respect that we are all trying to find the best quality of life that we can. It is not people of other countries that we should be scared of but those who harass others for any reason; be this physically, mentally or verbally. People that make the lives of others difficult should not have their lives made easier. I am happy to follow laws so that we do not live a lawless society and I choose to follow laws because I recognise the protection that they also honour me.
The justice system always allow free speech as defence before passing sentence and we should realise that even 'later to be convicted' criminals have had the right to state their case in a court of law. However if such a change in legislation is passed in Australia suggesting that is is acceptable to treat others with disrespect then I worry as to where will the new line be drawn...
Will it soon become acceptable to commit other crimes to protect our liberties or because we think that it is ok? If we are morally relative about each situation surely then we should be judged by logical reason. If this law is passed then it may become legal to harass or even attack someone due to them being different.
My argument against such an irrational concept is that we are all different already. It would be a very odd place if we were all the same. We need to rethink what 'justice' and 'liberty' really is and be sensible about it because we need both. Without liberty we would be unable to make our own choices but without justice we would be unable to live our own choices.
To me, both justice and freedom, need each other to survive. I don't want to live in a world where people think it's ok to be derogatory to others and I very much hope that the legal system protects people like myself not interested in petit arguments or small time problems. Humanity should stick together as brothers and sisters where we know that we are all different and no one person has any greater or lesser right to quality of life than the next. We should not inflict our beliefs onto those that do not wish to take part in sharing our ideologies yet we should protect and defend the interests of our human rights at all times.
An article explaining the debate further may be found here:
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/alp-to-rally-migrants-to-fight-race-hate-law-changes-20140325-35gig.html
I personally find it difficult to understand the minds of those that watch extreme violence and or hardcore pornography and gain satisfaction from such yet a brief look through the history of violence within humanity (ie. public execution and witch burning) explains that some of us somehow have a thirst for the obscure. I also personally find it difficult to watch a lot of the media and particularly drama that we are subjected to but vote with my remote rather than expect others to agree with my critiques.
Our society has developed laws to protect against the extreme members of our society that appear to not have evolved in their minds at the same rate as their surrounding culture and although I do not believe it is necessary to maintain a status quo, I do believe and expect that those who delve around the acceptable boundaries such as those who choose to test our justice system are able to state their reason before any conviction.
Nonetheless... a debate has kicked off in Australian politics where free speech laws could mean that it will become acceptable to publicly harass or bully individuals of another race. I feel that although we should have a right to free speech that if such a law is passed then it will mark a sad day for humanity.
We should all be regarded as equal regardless of our country of origin and should respect that we are all trying to find the best quality of life that we can. It is not people of other countries that we should be scared of but those who harass others for any reason; be this physically, mentally or verbally. People that make the lives of others difficult should not have their lives made easier. I am happy to follow laws so that we do not live a lawless society and I choose to follow laws because I recognise the protection that they also honour me.
The justice system always allow free speech as defence before passing sentence and we should realise that even 'later to be convicted' criminals have had the right to state their case in a court of law. However if such a change in legislation is passed in Australia suggesting that is is acceptable to treat others with disrespect then I worry as to where will the new line be drawn...
Will it soon become acceptable to commit other crimes to protect our liberties or because we think that it is ok? If we are morally relative about each situation surely then we should be judged by logical reason. If this law is passed then it may become legal to harass or even attack someone due to them being different.
My argument against such an irrational concept is that we are all different already. It would be a very odd place if we were all the same. We need to rethink what 'justice' and 'liberty' really is and be sensible about it because we need both. Without liberty we would be unable to make our own choices but without justice we would be unable to live our own choices.
To me, both justice and freedom, need each other to survive. I don't want to live in a world where people think it's ok to be derogatory to others and I very much hope that the legal system protects people like myself not interested in petit arguments or small time problems. Humanity should stick together as brothers and sisters where we know that we are all different and no one person has any greater or lesser right to quality of life than the next. We should not inflict our beliefs onto those that do not wish to take part in sharing our ideologies yet we should protect and defend the interests of our human rights at all times.
An article explaining the debate further may be found here:
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/alp-to-rally-migrants-to-fight-race-hate-law-changes-20140325-35gig.html
Comments
Post a Comment
Post