John Stuart Mills is by far one of the most brilliant thinkers in our liberal tradition. He was a great activist, he fought for women’s rights, and he introduced a bill for women’s suffrage to parliament. He also was a strong supporter of the abolitionist movement in the United States. Mills was concerned not about the government censoring the people, but of a society that could and would punish one another through peer pressure and ostracizing. With the problems with society in 2019, it is very necessary for everyone to be able to speak their minds without being worried about being shunned by their peers.
With all of the issues we are facing today, everyone needs to be free to speak their minds, whether their peers agree with them or not. Yes, social media allows us to express ourselves freely, but with cyber bullying, being a thing, it makes us think twice before we express our true thoughts. American society has come a long way but, for instance, when it comes to the distribution of wealth in America. A disproportionate amount of wealth is being held by the top 2 percent, in the meantime, the middle class has shrunk while the levels of poor increases.
One of the biggest issues facing us today is immigration, the sad part is that even though the Americas was founded on the backs of immigrants, the leader of this free world has no tolerance for immigrants. This country cannot survive without immigrants, we as a society should be free to express ourselves and let our leaders and peers know that how our thought on this issue without the fear of being persecuted. The idea that everyone has the right to free speech is a nice idea, but they are consequences to that free speech.
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Social media like Facebook and Twitter allows users to use that free speech, but it is that platform that also serves as the judge of that free speech. If your friends on Facebook and your followers on twitter do not agree with what you are voicing, then Twitter and Facebook wars can start. When we post something on Facebook or Twitter that our peers do not agree with, they are some that are not ashamed to bash the poster, the fear of peer shunned by our opinion can get in the way of the free speech everyone agrees that we should have.
This right to free speech is complicated, when the president of this free world calls people names, and insight hated, when he calls black poor countries “shithole countries, when he says that Mexicans are rapists and thieves, when he makes fun of a handicapped person, yes he has the right to free speech but this is when everyone’s right to their free speech should be invoked. Everyone needs to voice their opinion and let this so call president know that yes free speech is a right, but being a human being comes first, and in order or this country to be actually great then everyone should be treated with respect, this should start from the top.
This president does not care what he says, he believes in his free speech, so as human being we should also believe in our right to free speech and call him out, this is the time when society should punish and ostracize. Yes we as a society should be listening to each other views, of course, everyone’s beliefs are the same and yes some are very sensible and some are not, but people confuse their right to free speech with other rights, they believe their right to free speech is bigger than respect. I believe that some beliefs are very harmful and should be challenged, especially the ideas that have human lives at stake.
In the end yes we all have the right to free speech but, Mill’s had deep reasons for why he felt we should do quality listening, thinking and arguing. Mills felt that “, the other person’s idea, however controversial it seems today, might turn out to be right. (“The opinion may possibly be true.”), he also felt that “if our opinion is largely correct, we hold it more rationally and securely as a result of being challenged. He also thought that “ opposing views may each contain a portion of the truth, which need to be combined”.
