Pete's Place

Freedom of Expression

Cyberliberty - a separate page specifically dealing with Freedom of Expression on the Internet. Check it out!

"Free speech is life itself" - Salman Rushdie

"Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the State was to make men free to develop their faculties; and that in its government the deliberative forces should prevail over the arbitrary. They valued liberty both as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty. They believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that without free speech and assembly discussion would be futile; that with them, discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government."

- Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1927)

Freedom of Speech

Just a thought... People are always blithely talking about the fact that free speech cannot be absolute and invariably the example of someone yelling "Fire" in a crowded theatre comes up and everyone nods their heads gravely in agreement. Is this a common problem? Are people constantly rushing to their deaths in crowded theatres as criminal speakers plan yet another inflammatory way to say the word? Considering that freedom of expression is perhaps the most important factor in our freedom as a people, couldn't we perhaps install clearer fire alarms and tell people not to trample over each other if someone they don't know yells "Fire"? ...just a thought.

A few useful resources

More sites listed below.

Attacks from the Left and the Right
"Those who call for censorship in the name of the oppressed ought to recognize it is never the oppressed who determine the bounds of censorship."- Aryeh Neier, Civil Libertarian

Censorship attempts are not the province of one particular point on the political spectrum. Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon of this peculiar notion that passing a law against people expressing something offensive will somehow magically have the effect of making these people more tolerant or respectful of your views. This phenomena has seen "feminists" like Andrea Dworkin and Katharine MacKinnon "getting into bed" with the "Christian Right" (see Moral Mafia) and many other groups trying to silence opposing views (as if that will change their thinking) instead of retaliating with free speech of their own.

Some good sources in this area:

Freedom of Artistic Expression
"The most interesting art challenges in the most interesting way. The most daring art challenges in the most daring way. And so artists are the repository of the anxieties of others, the focus of their terror and anger... It is when artists are not being attacked that something is wrong - unless the world has become perfect, and there is no discomfort to express, no anguish to register, no tragedies to know, only happiness to celebrate... So, it is not up to those of us who make and produce and finance art to seek less trouble from politicians; it is up to us to seek more trouble. And we should not beg to retain the support the National Endowment for the Arts has received in the past; we should insist upon more." <- Charles L. Mee, Jr., playwright & historian

"If you look at foreign countries where dictatorships prevail, you find that the writers, the musicians, the artists are either under surveillance or under attack. The arts are always the first to be hit. The only difference is that now it's happening here."

- Joseph Papp, Director of the New York Shakespeare Festival

"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion"

- Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson

Back to:
Pete's Place -

- Enter the Photo Gallery -

You can reach Pete at:
pete@thelivingcanvas.com