Freedom of expression is not something you put in a pot and boil down.
Nor does it come in flat pack form.
Liberty is not pick'n'mix.
You can't just choose the bits you like.
Either it exists or it doesn't.
(The one law of mitigation is there to sanction those who use it to harm or defame)
This Freedom is the source from which the fast, strong waters of all other freedoms flow.
All of them.
The Freedom to come and go, to assemble, the Freedom of each one of us to live the life we feel to be right without harming others.
These Liberties all depend on each other.
The killers proved in blood those very links which so many people refuse to acknowledge.
- from Philippe Lancon's article in Sunday's Observer.
Philipe Lancon was wounded in the Hebdo attack in Paris.
Both my grandfathers fought in the Battle of the Somme.
Like Philippe Lancon they were both wounded in the struggle for freedom.
My father suffered in the Second World War.
Freedom and liberty are priceless. Millions of ordinary people in France, the Commonwealth, the United States, and many dozens of countries around the world have forfeited their lives to create the civilized world we enjoy today.
Freedom is here. Our greatest duty is to strive to protect it.
Freedom can be lost by taking ones eye off the ball.
ReplyDeleteAnd like Bobby Moore you've got to know when to kick it and where to.
DeleteWell said Gwil. I don;t think a lot of people give the freedom we have in this country a thought to be honest.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people don't seem to know the meaning of the word. As long as they have their football and fags it's like I'm all right Jack.
DeleteYes. And it's under attack in so many ways. In the uk, CCTV and the threat of ID cards (which seems to have thankfully gone away for now) for starters. People often seem so anxious about perceived threats that they happily surrender abstract-sounding freedoms in the name of security.
ReplyDeleteIn the USA it's even worse. It's easier to buy a gun than an airplane ticket. Obama just said it. It's insane. He said that as well.
DeleteWell spoken! And might I add to Sackerson's comment that people give up freedom also in exchange for "entertainment" (George Orwell's soma) - they give their data to Facebook, Google, shops etc for free - though, come to think of it: we do that with our blogs too...
ReplyDeleteAnd famously in Huxley's Brave New World too.
Delete---and---
ReplyDeleteAtlas Shrugged
__Subliminal; minds poisioned... things too often seen, seem to be of relative
unimportance; plausible sources overlooked.
_m
Writer and poet Ashraf Fayadh sentenced to death by beheading for allegedly turning to atheism. Just another sad statistic. Hardly worth mentioning in the news.
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