Does America respect freedom of speech only when it is what everyone else says?
What is freedom of speech really?
In the United States people are encouraged on one hand to "be real" and to "express your true opinion". On the other hand those who do this are often punished for "expressing the wrong opinion". So what is free speech really? I would say free speech is only that the government will not officially arrest you for saying something (most of the time anyway).
Free speech vs political correctness
Both free speech and political correctness are now rendered as nothing more than a method of litmus testing. A litmus test is defined:.
A litmus test is a question asked of a potential candidate for high office, the answer to which would determine whether the nominating official would proceed with the appointment or nomination. The expression is a metaphor based on the litmus test in chemistry, in which one is able to test the general acidity of a substance, but not its exact pH. Those who must approve a nominee, such as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, may also be said to apply a litmus test to determine whether the nominee will receive their vote. In these contexts, the phrase comes up most often with respect to nominations to the judiciary.
The only opinion I feel free to express about the litmus test is that I think that litmus testing is irresponsible to conduct. I don't think we can know a person by how they answer a question in public. I think to know a person is to analyze their decision making capability. This requires we actually study decisions they've made in the past and discuss those decisions. It's in my opinion more important what someone does than what someone says and even when looking at what someone does it is important to focus on their best decisions rather than their worst.
Are we really only free to say what everyone else is thinking?
If everyone else is thinking it and you say it then while it may be free speech the speech is endorsed by the minds of the general public. It's backed by millions of people. On the other hand if you say something truly unpopular (even if it's somehow right) it is going to be dismissed and possibly even discredited. If what you say cannot be discredited then the risk exists that the you yourself can be personally discredited so that nothing you ever say has any future value. So what is the value of political debate?
Is political debate worthless or is it educational?
More and more I am beginning to believe that there really isn't any value in political debate. More like with religious debate if people disagree with what you have to say they will not change their mind. In fact, many will designate you as the enemy if you don't think about politics exactly as they do. On the other hand in an ideal world people could have political debates not with the intention of discrediting the other side but with the intention of actually exploring ideas. The true debates in my opinion are rare and tribalism seems to have made most political discussion without any positive long term value. On the other hand people who don't participate in political discussion get judged as well so what is the answer?
There is no freedom of anything in America, what we are entitled to is not really our rights. We are always judged for it and everything is always taken for granted.
Here you may be judged in the court of public opinion, in the UK you will be locked up and judged by a judge.
It’s really sad but you are right, you can only “say” what is popular these days in the USA otherwise you will be attacked. I really wish political debate was effective because then our Congress and Senate in Washington DC might solve some of our greatest problems! We need compromise on some of these issues!
Both, depending on the stage we’re at.
May be helpful to bring light to different sides of a situation. Though becomes worthless if/when the goal is to “win” or prove one perspective “right” without acknowledging the value that exists within each side.
Can be educational - to the degree we allow ourselves to move beyond “debate” and use the platform to gain clarity on the time and place of each side and its value. Worthless, if remaining immature and approaching it as a win-lose battle versus an opportunity for integration...
To the question in your title, my Magic 8-Ball says:
Hi! I'm a bot, and this answer was posted automatically. Check this post out for more information.
I call it the 'Group think' mentality that has zero tolerance for dissenters. The annoying part is that it seems to go across ALL parts of the politico-social spectrum
fully agreed with you mate!
this society is nothing but a place where numbers wins and truth loses!
nothing is going right but everyone acting like it is! and they are living life with some fear and laziness , laziness means not doing anything against good! because sometimes good is hard to afford!
so my moto don't giv a s*** to society , and use society's rules against them!
a lot of things are going right.
not lot of! but some of them going right! and that's how our earth is holding us till now!
funny how the news seems to dwell on the negative, to the point where they sometimes feel the need to fabricate things to be negative about.
i don't see news! i see around me!
Unemployment is very low and the market is great, what's going wrong around you?
here , unemployment is growing day by day! because of over population problem,
our politicians are trying to developing our country, but they love money more then developing!
our fraud market is great! asian country u know ¬_¬
Well then that sounds like your leaders fault, not Donald Trump.
To your question whether political debate is worthless or educational, you might be in interested in how Jonathan Haidt's addresses the issue in "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion".
Doesn't he believe in moral intuitionism? Also what is a good person really? Good isn't static so it's another test which is always changing depending on who is judging at the time. If you have to pass a test to be declared good is there anything you could do to guarantee you'll always pass?
What's scary is that prominent progressives in the US have just declared that they oppose free speech, they now claim that free speech is racist, sexist and anti-gay. Just look at how closely first amendment cases have been decided recently. It's never good historically when the leftists succeed at silencing people.
No you got that wrong. They support free speech specifically so they can hold the "bad people" accountable for bad speech.
The interesting thing is, I actually agree with progressives in principal. I'm not anti-gay, and I'm not purposefully sexist. I don't even believe in the scientific validity of race.
But that doesn't mean something I say cannot be twisted out of context to make it look like I'm racist, sexist, anti-gay, etc.
I wish I was wrong, read the article I linked to, they declared that you cannot be a progressive and support free speech.
Excellent post. As an American, I never thought I'd see the day when free speech was shut down on college campuses, political disgreements resulted in being called a "nazi" and the free exchange of ideas was viewed as dangerious.
I rememeber a time when colleges encouraged students to find people who held the opposite view and try to understand each side. Today, we see college students needing safe spaces simply because they can't handle hearing opposing views. Political opponents are now viewed as less than human. You'd think people would learn from history. Instead it seems destine to be repeated over and over again. The world seems to go in cycles from the "we" phase (collective thought, mob rule, police state) to the "me" phase (individual rights, freedom). The world is cetainly entering the hieght of the "we"phase.