Melting Pot Causes Controversy for Freedom of Speech

Globalization has had and continues to have a huge impact on a wide variety of aspects of life. The corporate world has grown exponentially, trade continues to flourish, leisurely travel is a way of peoples lives, technology is world wide, and the list continues. While there are endless benefits to this there are also areas of life that are problematic because of globalization. One example is the controversial rights of freedom of speech. It would be easy to make a set of rights for a population that was entirely the same. Unfortunately that isn't realistic today. Some might say that freedom of speech is an easy concept and people should be free to say what they want. Because America is a melting pot of differently races, ethnicity, religions, and sexes it is understandable that the rights of freedom of speech need to carefully thought out and presented.

My understanding of the freedom of speech is that we do have freedom to express our opinions but there are restrictions. According to the definition of freedom of speech, some of the more obvious restrictions are the freedom to say just what one likes where ones likes are laws regulating incitement, sedition, defamation, slander and libel, blasphemy, the expression of racial hatred, and conspiracy. I agree with these situations. The problem here is that not all citizens keep these restrictions in their minds when they begin to talk to act out. There are obviously situations when one knows to keep their opinions to themselves but then there also situations when people may not realize they are speaking against these restrictions. In the article, "The International War on Free Speech," Brett Joshpe talks about the problems with what is considered free and what may result in a violation of free speech.

Geert Wilders is a member of the Dutch Parliament and a documentary film producer. He produced a controversal cartoon and short film when trying to portray terrosism. He quoted radical Imams and Koranic Suras which were used to justify terrorism. There was an angry responce from the Muslims to the film. An investitgation came about to see whether Wilders violated any hate speech laws. While the Muslims declined to prosecute him, 12 European countries are prosecuting him for blasphemy against Islam. This is one of those situations where one might not realize the extent of their restrictions to freedome of speech. If Wilders produced the film knowing he was going to be prosecuted by 12 countries I don't believe he would have said and presented what he did. There are some blury lines when figuring out whether somebody abuses their freedom of speech and violates rights or if they just didnt know. Clearly the rights of freedom of speech vary and using the word "freedom" may not be the proper term. They aren't freedoms, they are guidelines to speech. It is clearly a controversal set of rights around the world and in the melting pot of America.

http://spectator.org/archives/2008/11/06/the-international-war-on-free

http://www.answers.com/topic/freedom-of-speech