One of the blessings of life in the United States is the guarantee of free speech found in the First Amendment to our Constitution.
The First Amendment declares that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
So with few exceptions, we can speak our minds without fear of government oppression.
Of course, some people abuse free speech by being needlessly offensive, and that is regrettable. But our Founding Fathers realized, when they were putting together the Constitution, that suppressing speech is a greater danger than allowing even offensive speech.
How different that is from the way that other nations — including some that we generally think of as free and democratic — restrict speech.
Recently in Australia, a widely syndicated newspaper columnist was found guilty of violating that country’s Racial Discrimination Act. What was his “offense”? He had implied that some Australian Aborigines improperly used their race to gain special government benefits.
A judge ruled that Aborigines were likely to feel “offended, insulted, humiliated or intimidated” by the columnist’s views. The judge prohibited the future publication of the columns in question and said he would order the printing of a correction if a newspaper that published the columns did not apologize.
The United States obviously can’t tell Australia how to handle free speech issues. But aren’t you glad our First Amendment protects individuals from being punished by the government for peacefully expressing their views?