- Your freedom to swing your fist series#
- Your freedom to swing your fist tv#
- Your freedom to swing your fist free#
Misleading advertising, inappropriate content distributed to minors, false accusations against a person, introduce limitations on speech to protect consumers, children, or the right to reputation. Through the law, the state imposes certain penalties when other rights are violated. Best expressed by the saying your freedom to swing your fist ends where my nose begins. However, a healthy society will encourage a diversity of perspectives in public arenas.įreedom of expression, like any other right, has some limits.
Your freedom to swing your fist free#
Each individual and organization is free to decide who to associate with and what ideas to share.
Your freedom to swing your fist tv#
You cannot claim that you are being censored because a TV station does not give you airtime. On the other hand, free speech does not mean that someone must listen to what you have to say or offer you a stage to speak on. You don't have to agree with the ideas in order to support a person's right to say what they believe without fear of being punished by the state. Ion Rațiu nicely expressed this idea in a debate from the first Romanian presidential campaign after the 1989 revolution: I will fight to my last drop of blood to protect your right to disagree with me. Why? Because those are the only ones that need protection so they can be heard in the public arena, the rest can just be shared and discussed openly. Ideas that may be outrageous, plain wrong, or immoral.
If the government is in the business of policing opinions, history shows us that the ideas you approve today to be banned are inevitably followed, when your opponents come to power, by censorship against the ideas you support.Īs a practical matter, supporting free speech means defending someone’s right to share ideas with which the majority or the ruling class disagrees. The practical issue that arises is who will decide what constitutes an idea that should be prohibited. Incitements to hate, calls for violence, or racism have no place in modern society. I’m describing a recent incident in the Romanian media, but the people and ideas involved are less important than the principle at stake, namely the role of the government in punishing certain ideas expressed in public.īanning certain views may seem like a good idea at first glance. The reason? The opinion expressed constitutes discrimination and undermines the human dignity of a legally protected group. But events continued with an institution of the Romanian government, taking the matter into its own hands and deciding, after a unanimous vote, to punish the author of the remarks with a fine of €4.000 (for reference, the average salary in Romania at the time of writing is about €800). If the story ended there, your author would have chosen an entirely different topic to write about this week. The debate in newspapers, on social media platforms and comments, among ordinary people, is the most important element. The apologies are the least important part of the process. So far things seem to follow the natural course in a liberal democracy, where the best ideas are the last ones to stand after intense disputes in the public arena.
Meanwhile, business partners start distancing themselves from the statements and stop their collaboration altogether, more reactions and perspectives pour in. The author responds but does not seem to change many minds. Responses are quick to come from different parts of society, largely critical of what was said.
Your freedom to swing your fist series#
A Romanian public figure makes a series of statements in a TV interview.
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