If people stop caring about “free speech” soon you’d have the cops kicking down your door and executing you on the spot for saying something the government doesn’t approve of.
Free speech is about being able to criticise a government without fear of reprisal. It’s not a free ticket to spread misinformation, incite violence/hate or unjustly defame a person. Your assertion that free speech must be absolute or it will lead to society where people are executed for criticising government is a complete fantasy. No country has absolute free speech, not even the USA, as much as some citizens like to believe they do.
A well informed and well educated population. What is truth and what’s misinformation isn’t really a matter of opinion. There’s reality and there’s fantasy, some people just prefer the latter. The government and myself don’t control the flow of information.
I’d argue that the loudest people decide what’s considered “truth” by the public. Remember when cigarettes were considered healthy in the 50s and 60s, yet science previously proved otherwise? This was simply due to advertising campaigns and lobbying from tobacco companies. I’d also argue that this and similar styles of misinformation are more prevalent today than ever.
Yes, but that was never the truth, it was a lie created by companies marketing a product. A big difference between now and the then is we have access to the vast majority of human knowledge in our pocket. Much easier become informed on a subject now than in the past. Some people just lack the skills to do so, or choose not to and live in a fantasy.
Add comment