Freedom of Expression as Double-edged Sword | Daily Writeup | Opinions
The following article, “Why Is Freedom of Expression a Double-Edged Sword?“, is written by Sumiya Amjad, a student of Sir Syed Kazim Ali. Moreover, the article is written on the same pattern, taught by Sir to his students, scoring the highest marks in compulsory subjects for years. Sir Kazim has uploaded his students’ solved past paper questions so other thousands of aspirants can understand how to crack a topic or question, how to write relevantly, what coherence is, and how to include and connect ideas, opinions, and suggestions to score the maximum.
Freedom of expression, the freedom to express one’s thoughts and ideas, is considered an individual’s fundamental right in modern democratic societies. In fact, many democratic countries such as the USA, the UK, and India have made freedom of expression an obligatory part of their constitutions to empower citizens to express themselves freely. However, despite its positive implications, it also possesses a darker side, which is why it is considered a double-edged sword. Although freedom of expression benefits society in a variety of ways, it also has negative impacts. Undoubtedly, its positive side outweighs the negative one, as it prevents society from authoritarianism, helps develop socioeconomic status, and brings different issues to the limelight. Nevertheless, freedom of thought flourishes democratic values within a community and empowers the citizenry to hold the public representatives accountable for their actions. For instance, one of the major differences between an autocratic and democratic regime is the ability of its citizens to speak freely against the policies adopted by rulers. In the same way, it helps in developing the socioeconomic status of society and brings different issues of the community into the limelight. Here, feminist movements and the rights granted to women through it would never have been possible in the absence of freedom of expression. However, communities that curb the right of freedom of expression from their citizens result in the deprivation of fundamental rights of the citizenry and their inability to achieve self-determination. For instance, the Kashmir and Palestine issues are glaring examples where people are being silenced through force to suppress their voices as a result of different conflicts and disputes. To conclude, freedom freedom of expression has both positive and negative impacts on a community. However, its positive side has outweighed the negative one, as it acts as a building stone for the empowerment of communities. In the same manner, the absence of such freedom freedom gives rise to many conflicts and disputes.
Before moving towards the main arguments, let’s first understand the term freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is the freedom given to an individual to express his thoughts and ideas freely. Actually, it does not restrict the mental ability of an individual to think about different issues and problems and then bring those ideas in front of a community. Putting restrictions on thoughts, such as censorship or physical force, would not be termed as freedom freedom freedom. Now, after understanding the basic terms, let’s explain how freedom of expression is a double-edged sword.
To begin from its positive side, it is the freedom of expression that brings the problems of local communities into the limelight. In fact, the unrestricted use of such freedom helps people communicate on different issues and brings issues of utmost importance in front of the public and government representatives. As a result, such issues are being solved, and the community continue to prosper by developing the underprivileged faction within a community.
Moreover, it is the freedomFreedom of expression that exposes the imprudent policies of the public representatives through media. Undobtedly, such freedomFreedom empower the masses to hold the people in government accountable for their actions. It is an effective check on the Power and authority of the rulers governing the masses. As rightly said, Power corrupts and absolute Power corrupts absolutely.
Additionally, it is the freedomFreedom of expression that enables the members of community to debate on certain issues and helps creating an intellectual society. In fact, it is the talks on different problems that brings communities aware about wide variety of issues and develop their basic understanding regarding them. Due to which a community is enabled intellectually to solve their problems and address different issues in different ways.
Further, freedom of expression enhances democratic values within a community. For instance, the voting rights of an individual are totally based on his free will, who to elect and whom not. It brings justice within society as the elected representatives are duly accountable to the common man, who may not elect him again if he is guilty of being involved in ill practices. Secondly, freedom freedom of expression itself adds beauty to democracy, as it brings equality among the people regarding their ability to think and speak. In short, everyone in a society, regardless of their status and wealth, is allowed to express themselves whatever they think and feel, hence, adding beauty to the democratic values within a community. Now, after explaining the positive side of freedom of speech, let’s move towards its darker side, which makes it called a double-edged sword.
First of all, freedom freedom of speech incites sectarian violence within a community. It is the use of derogatory words used by different factions within a community in the name of freedom of speech that results in violence and chaos. For instance, the clashes between Shai and Sunni is a glaring example due to which thousands of people have lost their lives in Pakistan. Apart from this, the fascist Hindu regime of Modi used it as a tool against Indian Muslims to degrade them. Thus, the roots of sectarian violence in communities hold their roots in freedom of speech.
Next, freedom of speech and thoughts emerge as anti-state elements within a community. Nevertheless, it is the freedom of speech used by different organizations to flare violence within a state and result in the deaths of many innocent lives. For instance, Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant organization, flourished their ideologies freely on social media to fulfil their nefarious designs. In such an attempt, the attack on the Army Public School (APS) in 2014 is a grim story where about 200 plus innocent children lost their lives in a fight they don’t even have any links to. Additionally, the role of ISIS could never be ignored. Who used social media and radio stations as their ultimate source to flare violence in different states. Thus, the unrestricted use of thoughts flourishes anti-state elements, which prove dangerous for communities.
Apart from this, the misuse of freedom of speech spreads misinformation and propaganda in societies. As a matter of fact, most of this right to freedom is frequently abused by influential personalities to achieve illicit gains. For instance, a political party in Pakistan used foreign cyphers as a means to protect their government. As a result, the country’s relations with the superpower USA badly deteriorated, affecting the country’s overall image. In the same manner, a lot of information portrayed on social media is not always true and sometimes leads to misunderstanding, which further incites violence in society. For instance, a student of Bacha Khan University, Mashal Khan, was murdered on blasphemous charges by university students. Later, it was revealed that the information about him was false and not true. Hence, propaganda and misinformation are, most of the time, the outcome of the freedom of speech.
Lastly, Unrestricted use of speech provokes hate speech against certain communities. To make it more clear, Islamophobia is the outcome of freedom of speech, which is the hatred against Muslims around the world due to their certain beliefs. For instance, a cartoon portrayed in France degrading the Holy Prophet (SAW) was a shameful act which infused anger within the Muslim communities within France as well as the Muslim communities around the world. Such acts could result in a massive public uprising, bringing the peace of society at stake. Thus, the unfiltered right to freedom of speech could harm societies by invoking hate speeches. After explaining the positive and negative sides of freedom of expression, now let’s move towards the argument that for a society, why is freedom of expression considered of utmost significance?
To begin with, freedom of speech prevents societies from becoming an autocratic and despotic regime. The main reason behind this argument is the empowerment of people in democratic regimes to express themselves openly and debate on certain issues of national importance. However, in despotic rule, people are silenced through force and coercion, moving the society backward and underdeveloped. For instance, the differences between certain communities around the world could better support this argument. North Korea, governed by a military dictator, is an autocratic regime where people do not even have access to internet facilities and international television news channels. As a result, it has been sanctioned by different international organizations to curb the basic rights of individuals, making it less developed and having little significance in the global arena. On the other hand, Nordic countries, truly democratic states, are considered one of the happiest regions in the world according to the World Happiness Index. The reason is the intellectual and socioeconomic growth of that community through their use of the freedom to think and innovate. Thus, the right to speak prevents a community from becoming authoritarian in nature, which benefits the overall standard of the people living there.
Moreover, the development of the socioeconomic status of society holds a direct link to freedom of speech and expression. Indeed, societies that encourage the right to speech are much more developed and prosperous in the contemporary world. For instance, European philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Montesquieu used this right to empower Europe socially and economically. It was their theories that brought revolution to the European states, making them one of the most developed nations in the world. In the same manner, Voltier and some other philosophers who paved the way for the French Revolution are considered the most important developments in the history of mankind. Thus, freedom of expression was utilized by European philosophers to develop Europe socially, economically, and intellectually.
Furthermore, the freedom to speak brings different issues of the communities to public recognition. Nevertheless, different problems that emerged in societies were solved and addressed only because of the freedom of people to speak about those issues freely without any restraints. For instance, feminist movements in the past raised the problems faced by women in the social, domestic, and professional spheres. Consequently, feminists, after their struggles and handwork, achieved their desired outcomes by empowering women in the above-specified spheres. Hence, it is the right to speak that empowers women to win their rights and privileges in society.
In addition, freedom freedom of speech helps in creating a safe and healthy society. Making it clearer, to achieve efficient safety in a community, the exchange of knowledge about different issues is mandatory. For this purpose, the United Nations (UN), a plate form for different world leaders, is used to effectively address the issues of the world and take certain preventive measures to make this world a better place to live. In this regard, different UN agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and many others, are working in coordination with each other to upgrade living standards and make the lives of people even better. Thus, communicommunities and health are directly proportional to the exchange of knowledge and freedom. However, now we move towards the arguments about what would happen if a community is deprived of the basic fundamental right of freedom of speech.
First of all, the absence of freedom freedom of speech curtails the self-determination of a community. The freedom freedom to express and speak, if taken from a community by force, would lead the society backwards and indulge them in different conflicts and problems. For instance, the case of Kashmir and Palestine is a dazzling example where people are blatantly deprived of this fundamental right. Consequently, people of both communities suffer and are unable to grab the right of self-determination.
Nevertheless, the curtailment of voices leads to the suppression of citizens, depriving them of their basic fundamental rights. For instance, the Afghan Taliban have taken away the right to education from Afghan women due to their autocratic regime where no one is allowed to criticize the policies and rules made by them. As a result, it is the millions of Afghan women who would suffer and would be unable to see the brighter side of life, pushing them back into a state of ignorance and unenlightenment.
To conclude, freedom of expression is a double-edged sword, having both positive and negative implications for a community. On the brighter side, it empowers the citizens to bring the local issues of the community into the limelight and hold their public representatives accountable for their illicit actions. However, on the negative side, it flares sectarian violence and emerges anti-state actors within a state. But still, in reality, its positive side outbalances the negative one, as it prevents the society from becoming an authoritarian state and helps a community to prosper economically and socially. Nevertheless, it is the freedom of expression that brings issues of utmost importance to the top and addressing them creates a healthy and safe community. But in spite of this, if a community is not empowered to exercise this right, it may lose its self-determination and be deprived of certain basic fundamental rights. Again, freedom of expression is the beauty of democracy. If used in a good manner, it would lead society towards prosperity and contentment.
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