Free Speech: An Importance Of Having A Voice

Freedom of speech is very important. People need freedom of speech to peacefully protest what they think is wrong. If we had restrictions on speech we wouldn't be able to challenge the government even if we think something they are saying is wrong. For example, in North Korea, if you think that the government is wrong, or you don't agree with a law, if you speak up, you’d get thrown in jail just because you said your opinion. With these restrictions in place, the world will never change and we won't be able to do anything about it since we can't share our opinions.

In a recent article a principal tried to remove “Black lives matter” from a yearbook, but 2 fearless teenagers spoke up, protested this and was able to make a difference and change the way people thought. Of course this is just a small thing and does not affect anyone outside the school but this is still a prime example of how people can make a change and express themselves even if what they’re saying is ‘wrong.’ People will never change the world if we don't give them a chance to

If we had restrictions on Freedom of speech people are still going to say whatever they want. I don't think putting restrictions on free speech is going to solve anything. It'll only give the government more power because they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Also, many human rights activists wouldn’t be where they are if they were not giving freedom of speech, for example Nelson Mandela didn’t have freedom of speech and he was imprisoned for 27 years because he shared his opinion and then he led a campaign and told his story, and was the first black president of South Africa. We believe freedom of speech is a privilege because there are many countries that are communist and they are not given freedom of speech and they get a job that they may not like, like North Korea, they are not aloud to have freedom of speech whenever they say something that might “threaten” their government they are thrown in jail. This affects them because no one will be able to speak their mind or else they will be mistreated by people of power.

George Orwell is the author of the book called 1984. The book is about a society where people have no say in anything and are entirely meaningless to humanity. Orwell's main goal was to warn people of the serious danger that having no freedom of speech poses to society. Orwell strongly believed in the potential for rebellion to advance society meaning he thought that there was potential in people going against rights and having no restrictions on freedom of speech for the better good. In Fact there is example of this all throughout history, If there was not freedom of speech, than Martin Luther King Jr. would not have been able to say that African Americans were being treated wrong, and that is a huge part of history. And when you utilize your right to freedom of speech you implicitly agree that your speech, is your responsibility, whether they are positive or negative, and you should be held accountable for them.

Everything we know about the world, from how humans came into being, to the fundamental laws of physics, wouldn't be possible without Free Speech and everyone's ideas. Without free speech, we wouldn't be where we are today. Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was the one that found out that the earth revolves around the sun. However, nobody believed him and he faced resistance from the catholic authority. If it wasn't for him sticking up for himself and believing, our understanding of the world might of been entirely false. And as history has shown, Bad ideas are most effectively defeated by good ideas. They are backed up by ethics, reason and just plain common sense. Just because someone says something that might be considered offensive, or mean, doesn't mean that what their saying isn't true. The whole point of free speech is being able to express your beliefs and letting everyone know how you feel, it only takes one person to make a change. ”A person's voice can be the difference of life and death for a person, so that's why we think it's necessary.”