I've asked on Facebook before, does being free mean free from discrimination or free to discriminate? I was surprised by the amount of interaction I received from this post that actually added to the conversation. To me, being truly free means freedom to discriminate whoever you want or say whatever you want.

Dangers and Positives of Freedom of Speach

In an environment where freedom of speech is free, false information or "fake news" is free to spread to whoever is gullible enough to believe it. This is dangerous as it could lead to some people drinking something dangerous because they read online it could cure or prevent them from getting the coronavirus.

The fittest will always survive and even though some fake news like this could spread rapidly, reputable news sources will quickly pick this up and warn people of the dangers of drinking x liquid and show them that it has no benefits of protection or prevention from the virus.

Another benefit of letting false information spread uninterrupted, people will begin to learn to do their own research. They won't need to rely on big daddy government, Facebook, or Twitter to determine what is or isn't fake news based on computer algorithms, but will develop skills and learn different reputable websites to use to fact check the information that may be seen as questionable.

Sensoring Speach Creates an Echo Chamber

When "fake news" is censored, or even controversial topics are censored and demonetized on platforms it is dangerous.

1. It prevents people from using information that they gathered to share their own point of view. I remember when the coronavirus was first starting to spread there was information shared and backed by data, that at the time, it looked like the coronavirus spread may slow as Summer approached because cooler countries appeared to be getting hit the hardest.
2. It could also accidentally help spread false information as it creates an echo chamber for what countries or governments perceive to be right or true. It turns into one big environment where people don't question what is presented to them but follow it like blind sheep because either they're blindly trusting or too scared to speak up or think for themselves.

Just think in an environment where freedoms are limited, do you think anything as silly as the Fosbury flop would have been invented. Just think how silly you would sound if you told people for the first time, "I run at the pull and then jump over the pole backward and then flop on the mat like a fish."

Yet Dick Fosbury was able to win a gold medal and popularize a style of high jump that no one else was using at the time. While free speech may allow for the free flow of any, even fake, information, freedom of speech also is what helps to spread new ideas that push the world forward toward a better place.

The Dangers of Giving an Inch

Everytime gun control or some other issue comes up wanting to take away freedoms, I always refer them to this article. A Hitler survivor from Austria shares her first-hand account where Hitler was welcomed into Austria with open arms.

The article talks about how Austria voluntarily was joined to Germany due to 25% inflation and 25% interest on bank loans. How people went from door to door begging for food because there was no jobs, and how they had no idea what was actually going on in Germany, in short, they were desperate.

Source

Kitty Werthmann talks about how Germany gave everyone jobs through public works projects and gave women equal rights, but then went after their education system by nationalizing it and preventing religious education, they took over all the private companies insuring the controlled everyone's job, then they went after the guns, then they went after freedom of speech.

She explains this didn't happen overnight, but rather the course of 5 years from 1938 - 1943. She explains

Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.

This is the danger of giving government an inch in times of uncertainty and even in economic collapse. They take a little more and a little more until all you have left to defend yourself is broom handles and kitchen knives.

Freedom of Speech

If you can't already tell freedom of speech means everything to me. While I don't agree with what racists or other extremists have to say they still have the right to say it and have equal freedoms to suffer the consequences.

If you start screaming ignorant things in a business or private area, the owner has every right to ask you to leave or get you removed from their property. Free speech and every other freedom, especially those in the Bill of rights, are worth fighting for until our last breath.

If you haven't already would love to hear your thoughts on #freespeech and don't forget to participate in the initiative by @theycallmedan here. If you do feel free to leave a comment in your post as well so I can stop by and read, comment, and upvote your post.