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RE: What Exactly IS Free Speech?
The right to give an opinion, no matter what it is, I think is perfectly fine. Deliberately spreading damaging lies should be punishable though - justifying lies with 'free speech' as an excuse is an inexcusable fallacy.
That's my opinion.
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Yes the truth about anything may be unique, and there are as many perceptions of reality as there are observers of it, which justifies having different opinions about just about everything. But innocent opinions are different from deliberate lies, especially ones designed to ultimately benefit the liar at the cost of anyone else.
Lies in the form of propaganda that falsely portrays another society as enemies of yours, to such an extent that destructive wars are invoked are surely deliberate lies that destroy lives and quality of life wholesale for thousands, if not millions of people. Are those allowable for any reason?
In all fairness, deliberate lies that cost innocent lives should be punishable by death, should they not?
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There I agree with you @hobo.media. In terms of ideologies mutual respect is key to harmonious existence in this world. Different ideologies spring from different perceptions of the same basic reality, expressed differently, as per culture and are often different verbalizations of the same underlying principles.
In fact if open free speech is accepted and tolerated by all, ideological expressions are like to converge over time, as we are in essence all creatures with the same essential needs and most likely eventually in need of the same essential lifestyle, even if it is lived in different fashions under different flags.