Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
Is there anywhere in the world where free speech has existed in the romanticised (and what I believe to be a strictly philosophical) way you view it?
Because I'm pretty sure free speech in actual practice is exactly as illustrated. You can say whatever, and people will react accordingly. Do you think free speech exists on this message board? In Canada? North America? Anywhere in the world?
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No ideal has ever existed in the real world. That's why they're called ideals. But there's an extremely strong correlation between the scope of speech and ideas that a culture tolerates and the progress of liberal society -
especially for minorities.
It's difficult to express how bizarre it is to see the emergence of a political culture where freedom of speech is being championed more strongly by the right than the left. It's like watching rain fall upwards.
“People who would hamper free speech always assume that they’re designing a world in which only their enemies will have to shut up.” Lionel Shriver