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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Letters-46: "Freedom of Speech: Drawing a Line"

Freedom of speech is prized by democracies because only in a climate of free speech can the people remain informed on issues that affect their society and thus make an informed choice of government to reflect their best interests.  Yet nobody in most free societies can have a platform to incite violence, murder, sexual abuse, racial abuse or any other activity deemed repugnant by the vast majority of people.  Random House's decision to bow down to a hypothetical threat is surely a good decision.

There is a clear demarcation between intellectual discourse and subjecting a group of people to crass verbal abuse.  Every society permits their citizens to express themselves within its legal limits.  People should always know what constitutes hate or where to draw the line on free speech and it is not a license to target vulnerable groups. -  
Dr.T.Marx, Lecturer, Dept of English, Pondicherry University, Puducherry.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, Oct.19,2008.

Detailed Wikipedia article on  "FREEDOM  OF  SPEECH":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Of_Speech

Grateful thanks to Dr Marx, The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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