How important is it for a citizen to express their freedom of expression? Is it a crime for one to express their opinions, as it was for Socrates? Additionally, is it an unconditional right regardless of the consequences one might face for their expression? Freedom of expression is what makes this world work. It's what makes the world change; and like Socrates, the Hutus, the Tutsis, and Rick, it's found in every human being.
In the book The Trial and Death of Socrates by Plato, Socrates is viewed as a great thinker and playwright. During the course of his life, however, many people saw Socrates as a mind-corrupter. Having been accused of everything from betraying the gods to having people pay to talk to him, Socrates is put on trial, found guilty, and sentenced to death. Instead of just accepting what Meletus, the chief accuser of Socrates, has charged him with, Socrates explains to the court his side of the story. In his own way: with honesty and directness. .
Socrates explains that his behavior stems from a prophecy from the oracle at Delphi, which claims that he is the wisest of all men. Socrates concludes from this prophecy that he must be wiser than most men in that he recognizes that he knows nothing. He then tells the court that he considers it .
his duty to expose men who are thought to be wise by the general population as ignorant amateurs who know nothing at all. By exposing these men, Socrates earned much admiration by the youth of Athens, and much hatred by those he exposed. After his sentence has been declared, Socrates stands firm in his beliefs and states, "I say, gentlemen, to those who voted to kill me, that vengeance will come upon you immediately after my death, a vengeance much harder to bear than that which you took in killing me.""(pg. 40) This shows how important Socrates beliefs are to him, and how he is willing to die for these beliefs. Socrates demonstrates how a single individual person can have an impact on a democracy by standing up for what he believes in, even though it could result in his death.
