Speech

Freedom of Speech #

xkcd №1357

The freedom of speech is weird, because it’s one that most of us recognize is that it should have limits because speech is powerful. The problem comes in what those limits are, which is why there are so many topics under debate:

  • Government Secrets vs Whistleblowing
  • Hate Speech vs Political/Religious Opinion
  • Copyright vs Parody
  • Public Health vs Advertising of Sugar/Drugs
  • Public Safety vs Creating Panic
  • Encryption vs Self Incrimination
  • Flag Burning vs National Pride
  • Gag Orders vs National Security
  • Porn/Cursing vs Public Decency (and the FCC)
  • Advertising vs Spam
  • Satire vs Defamation

There’s also a question of where things go too far- at what point is speech a legitimate threat, and where is the line for actions that constitute harassment vs just being an asshole? Should freedom of speech only apply to the government, or should we compel large social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, to allow the spread of misinformation and hate or not?

Government Secrets Vs Whistle blowing #

Hate Speech Vs Opinion #

Public Healthy Vs Advertising #

Public Safety Vs Creating Panic #

Encryption Vs Self-Incrimination #

Flag Burning Vs National Pride #

Gag Orders Vs National Security #

Porn/Cursing Vs Public Decency #

Advertising Vs Spam #

Satire Vs Defamation #

Threat or Bad Joke? #

Harassment, Bullying, and Stalking #

Speech on Social Media Platforms #

[TODO] Limits, XY plot of how much harm vs risk for shutting down ‘good’ speech

  • Don’t Yell Fire
  • Don’t lie to cause harm “That man punched my baby”
  • (Questionable) Don’t incite violence “Let’s burn down the police station”

Some edge cases #

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/07/texas-ban-boycotting-israel

https://ij.org/press-release/oregon-engineer-makes-history-with-new-traffic-light-timing-formula/


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