How Free Should Speech Be?

<h1>Pretty free speech</h1> A little over a year ago, on August 12th, 2022, writer Salman Rushdie was stabbed on his way to give a lecture in New York. While the motives of the wannabe killer are not officially known, it doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to think that this had something to do with the fatwa called on Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses (good book, by the way). He is far from the first person being attacked for a critical stance on religions and/or religious doctrines. Commenters in the West (what an imperialistic and misguided term) were quick to voice their horror — rightfully so — and pronounce that here, in that fabled (hah) West, we have something called free speech. After all, the UN says so: <blockquote> “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” - United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights </blockquote> Do we have such free speech? Do we really? On the surface of it, yes, we can say anything. In reality, there are things we can’t say. Depending on which country you’re in (even in that mythical West) insulting a monarch can get you in trouble. Not too long ago, insulting the king of the Netherlands could get you 5 years in prison. <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/dutch-parliament-reduces-penalties-for-insulting-king-20180411-p4z8yx.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Don’t worry, they reduced the sentence to 4 months</a>. Or do you deny the Holocaust? You’re in trouble. (Note: this is an example; the Holocaust is a black stain on human history that should never be forgotten.) <a href="https://medium.com/predict/how-free-should-speech-be-f4662e1a6ae7">Website</a>