In Praise of the UK's Stance on Free Speech (but Some Reservations)
This morning my wife and I discussed free speech in the context of Canada and some Asian countries (my wife grew up in east Asia). I explained that to me, and not just to me, free speech means you are not protected from people 'blasting' what you say. The right to criticise is extremely valuable and criticism is not a form of censorship, it is a way to audit the legitimacy of some poorly worded or well worded statements. Prevention of speech is not the same as criticism (censorship versus a two-way or double-edged swords) and healthy societies with honest discourse foster and even encourage open criticism, not criminalisation of "inconvenient" speech (except when it verges on calls to kill and there are laws dealing with death threats already).
I am very often reminded of the good speech by Rowan Atkinson on free speech I grew up enjoying if not admiring Atkinson. He made me and my friends laugh so hard!
At the moment there is a healthy discussion going on with the objective of disrupting attacks on British press, sometimes by foreigners with a thin skin and bad reputation. Our aim is to improve press protections in our country. We'll get there at the end. █
Image source: Retro old gramophone with horn