The First Freedom

Would you be willing to die to protect the freedom of expression? Conversely, if someone offends somebody via the free exercise of speech, would you blame the speaker if the offended party murdered them for their offensive speech? This is not a hypothetical question. We live in a world where there are people willing to kill those who offend them with cartoons. You do not need to know the content of the cartoons or whom they offended to answer these questions. Either it is okay to kill people who offend you with their speech or it is not. Arguments that there are some sacred things that, if spoken ill of, offend so powerfully that murdering the speaker is an acceptable response are invalid. Either people are free to express themselves as they choose, and this freedom is important enough to be worth dying over, or they are not and ought to think twice before speaking in an offensive manner about things anyone may consider sacred.

In the United States, the first amendment to the Constitution guarantees the freedom of speech to all citizens. However, the concept has been adopted by the whole of the western world. The government is not allowed to oppress the people for their speech and those who would threaten or enact violence solely on the basis of said speech are violating the law and are generally dealt with accordingly. Maintaining this freedom involves a great deal of resolve from many parties. Governments must restrain themselves from oppressing critics, individuals and groups must restrain themselves from threats and violence in response to the speech of others, and all parties must speak freely, even in the face of the worst danger. If any of these parties fail in their obligations to uphold free speech, their failure endangers the future of free speech. Make no mistake, this freedom is not a given and has been the exception, rather than the rule, throughout history.

Respecting the right of an individual or group to hold a belief and express that belief is a noble thing and an important part of freedom of expression. Instead respecting the belief itself out of fear of reprisal for failure to do so is ignoble and a very serious threat to free speech. Imagine the power any individual or group wields once criticism of said individual or group's beliefs is either impermissible or impossible without serious risk of death. That's absolute power and, even if the beliefs are objectively beyond reproach, the individuals and groups that hold them absolutely are not, which will inevitably lead to the old chestnut about absolute power corrupting absolutely. If someone oppresses you or others, do you want to be able to speak out against them for it no matter what beliefs your oppressors claim are motivating them? Well, then you're going to have to be brave enough to speak as you wish, no matter what harm may come to you as a consequence, and you'll also have to be brave enough to condemn those willing to use violence to suppress criticism or mockery of their beliefs.

-Frank