There is No Such Thing as Freedom of Speech - Discuss.
The world is like a stage, a platform for people to be expressive, and for most stage plays they are scripted, thus all actions, speech and movements are limited. Where there are rules and regulations in a country, we have to abide by them. Freedom of speech is something that people have yearned for, even in democratic countries like Singapore that allows her people to have a say in certain affairs. What else is lacking?.
Before we move on, let's take a look into history. The idea of literal or absolute freedom of press has found few champions more firece and steadfast than Hugo Lafayette Black, who served on the U.S Supreme Court from 1937 - 1971. To Justice Black, the First Amendment that says, "Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech, or of the press," was a literal command. Justice Black was adamant about the absolute nature of the First Amendment. There are many laws made by the Congress and by the state legislatures that constrain and complicate freedom of press. They range from libel and privacy statues to law governing intellectual property and advertising to the publication of government secrets. Even the resolute Justice Black would sometimes admit that at certain times, under certain times, under certain circumstances, and inc ertain places, there could be limits on freedom of expression. Most people who have studied freedom of the press agree that one of its fundamental conditions in America is the doctorine of no prior restraint of publication. This doctorine holds that the press must be free to publish what it wishes without interference from the government, while remaining subject to various types of legal scrunity after the fact. The noble purposes of press freedom, as envisioned by the Enlightenment philosophers and others since, would clearly elevate society, but in most instances these are still distant goals, not actual accomplishments, not the reality of the situation today or perhaps ever.
