How Free Should Speech Be?

<h1>Pretty free speech</h1> <p>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&rsquo;t take a stretch of the imagination to think that this had something to do with the fatwa called on Rushdie for his novel&nbsp;<em>The Satanic Verses&nbsp;</em>(good book, by the way).</p> <p>He is far from the first person being attacked for a critical stance on religions and/or religious doctrines.</p> <p>Commenters in the West (what an imperialistic and misguided term) were quick to voice their horror &mdash; rightfully so &mdash; and pronounce that here, in that fabled (hah) West, we have something called free speech. After all, the UN says so:</p> <blockquote> <p>&ldquo;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.&rdquo;<br /> - United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights</p> </blockquote> <p>Do we have such free speech? Do we really?</p> <p>On the surface of it, yes, we can say anything. In reality, there are things we can&rsquo;t say. Depending on which country you&rsquo;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.&nbsp;<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&rsquo;t worry, they reduced the sentence to 4 months</a>. Or do you deny the Holocaust? You&rsquo;re in trouble. (<strong>Note:&nbsp;</strong>this is an example; the Holocaust is a black stain on human history that should never be forgotten.)</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/predict/how-free-should-speech-be-f4662e1a6ae7"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>
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