Free Speech

We take free speech for granted. In this day and age, we've gotten used to being able to say what we want. And if something comes up that restricts what we do, we can claim that it's actually encroaching on our speech and we are therefore allowed to do it.

It didn't used to be like that. The English government used to have the right to punish anyone who threatened the image of ruling class because they couldn't rule properly if they weren't properly respected by the people. That was later done away with in America, but changed into the government being allowed to punish any who threatened the harmony of the community. It didn't matter if the things being said were true or not. In the case of that English law, it was even worse if it was true because it only highlighted that the rulers were like the commoners and equally fallible.

These are troubled times, my friend, when initiatives turn into debates for laws-in-the-making about issues that will take away freedoms that have been paid for at a premium during the decades it's taken us to get away from that time when someone could be punished for honestly stating that the judge was corrupt.*

There are reasons behind what's going down, but acts like SOPA and PIPA are not the answer. No matter what good security comes from such highhandedness, so much more collateral damage will build up as innocent bystanders are wiped out either by accident or from abuse of the system. And it's not okay.

*Source: Freedom of Speech, for the thought we hate the most, a biography of the First Amendment.