When it comes to freedom, should that include the right to express discontent and criticism online with your government? Not just the government either, but every extension of it—the police and the military as well. Should people be free to criticize the people, these organizations, who rule over them?
Freedom of expression differs around the world and the more authoritarian the state is, the more that we see free speech get censored, discouraged, and prohibited.
When it comes to countries that consider themselves to be democracies or those who have aligned themselves with organizations like the U.N., on the surface you might assume that they have an affinity to respect free speech and stand-up for it rather than try to infringe upon it, but we know that this isn't always the case.
It takes guts to speak out against something when the majority of the people around you don't agree with you, or you are putting yourself at risk by speaking out. I think our world is better off thanks to the people who have the courage to stand up for what they believe is right. And patriotism has quite rightly been described as a willingness to challenge the government whenever it is perceived to be acting in the wrong.
The government, ideally, is supposed to represent and serve the people and so why then should the people ever be restricted from voicing their concern or opinion about the organization?
It is a detriment to the people and their freedom, to try and silence that voice of criticism, which is why it bothers me to see authorities cracking down on social media critics lately in Pakistan, who have been expressing discontent with the nation's military.
A new cyber crime law was passed in the country last year, and it's alleged that authorities are using that legislation in order to track social media critics of the military. It's alleged that at least 200 social media accounts have already been investigated, accounts that have posted content which criticizes the armed forces or casts them in a negative light.
According to a statement from the Interior Minister himself, unwarranted criticism for the government is not going to be tolerated. This coming from a country that is a part of the U.N. and is alleged to uphold and respect the natural right to freedom of expression; according to their own Constitution.
Multiple lawmakers and many activists have already expressed concern for the recent crackdown and they say the new rules are aimed at squashing political dissent. Dozens of people have also already been interviewed by authorities, who had their accounts investigated over the matter.
Street protests have been threatened, if the crackdown on free speech doesn't stop.
The HRCP (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan) has already come out and strongly criticized the move by the government to punish critics of the military. They have demanded that the state put an end to their actions in trying to curb freedom of expression online.
If people are free, then they should be free to express their criticisms of the government without any fear of retaliation from that government.
Pics:
Pixabay
quotesgram
Sources:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/05/23/pakistan-cracks-down-on-social-media-critics-military.html
https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/23/pakistan-investigates-army-critics-on-social-media/
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-internet-idUSKCN10N0ST
https://www.voanews.com/a/pakistan-social-media-crackdown-alarms-critics/3862421.html
The answer to any question which begins with "Should people be free to..." should always be YES!
Yes Josh, agreed.
please have a look at my last 2 posts brother, give them a vote and resteem, spread the word for sure on winning the STEEM vote for the BTCC exchange!
Keep up your good work and if anyone is not following Josh here or online elsewhere -- def. do it if you like your freedoms!!!
Hey It's josh.. Good to see you on here! I'm Paul Irvine from Facebook. I just followed you on here now as well.
I've been targeted and harassed by gov't controlled agencies for years calling out their corruption. People can see it on my YT channel...
and in my post earlier tonite again about the Bitcoin Price latest post discussing their corrupt practices on the fruadulent monetary policies in place.
So I hope the gov't likes me keeping consistent LOL.
Can you give my latest blog post a like etc - I have been doing them them daily to remind all Steemians to VOTE for our currency on the BTCC exchange, we can win this thing!
Another well written tight article. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one @doitvoluntarily ;) Keep up the good work!
very nice explaination
Sadly we havent been free in a long while. So many of our liberties have been stripped from us by way of systematic practices to propagate fear and/or distraction while at the same time thrusting economic uncertainty upon most of us......the result is a shaken people, many of which are too depressed or deluded to stand up and fight. I'm glad to see that you arent one of those people. RESPECT
I believe free speech is free speech, doesnt matter if its online or in person.
Thanks for the read
Great article. resteemed
Freedom is just an illusion...
Yes!
hahaha great film!!
I will upvote this comment immediately :)
the answer to that question should always be yes, why? because the government is (should be or is supposed to be) here for us, not US here for the government.
it's hard to be there for folks when you ignore their consent from the get go lol :)
Agreed 😂😊
Appreciate the conversation. Shared with @Steemtrail. https://discord.gg/uwjBaHb
nice thanks for sharing
THE ANSWER IS YES!
We are trending right behind each other tonite on the hot page!
I love it, I just watched that again 2 weeks ago LOL.
Not only should people be able to, it should be much more common and abundant in my opinion. Though.. I don't really believe in government at all anymore, so.. I think the discourse needs to be less about whether we can criticize or not, but how to dismantle and get rid of it instead. As much as is possible. Good write up! Upvoted.
Great article...and yes the people and citizens of this world should always have the right to speak against powers that be if they feel any discontent. Its the only way we work together, citizen vs government always equals compromise and solutions. You lose that right and voice than what is the point of freedom anymore.
They should definitely be free to criticize the government without reprisals.
You are either free or you are not. You cannot possibly be partially partially free without bending the definition of freedom. I would say that people generally get confused between being "nominally free" and actually having unlimited liberty.
There should be no limits to freedom of speech. Period.
excellent analytic writing. thanks & upped ^^
Thy will tell you that you can do it, but you really can't. they have the weapons and the law on their side. It works much like a gang. You are free to state your opinion but you will get Rekt if they don't like it.
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yes
Now it's the government, formerly it was the church, who do they think they are? GOD?
:-)
Yes, people should be able the criticize the government. However let's just take the Seth Rich case where he ended up murdered. Seems like the people who know the Clintons , but have information against them or speak out against them end up dead in a weird way. I mean like suicide with the shooting oneself in the back of the head twice. You see that is hard to conceive and how is that possible? I'm talking about Vince Foster in this instance. I'm just remembering some things I seen in a video of the Clintons body count. The deep state and the Clintons are just a part of the deep state have infiltrated our government, mainstream media and parts of law enforcement.
oh yea the suicide double tap lol classic
okayy so better whatch what i am writting here or else im gonna end up in jail,, especially if im a bit drunk , well looks like dictatorship or maybe ....
Excellent post mate. Lots of good comments too. Thanks again!
Should be able too but it's risky
freedom of speech is one thing and it should be absolute.
now get off my lawn.
Freedom of speech, Yes. Freedom to smear, No. Unfortunately this is what we have today. The internet has a given a voice to every angry person to pour their anger and hate. No constructive criticism based on facts and stats, just emotional speech
people aren't free from the consequences of their speech. Freedom to express yourself, no matter how emotional, is a natural right :)
A man who does not weigh his words before utter them is a fool.
agree!
If you live in Pakistan, you have more to worry about that the government spying on you (welcome to the worldwide digital police state) - you also have to worry about extremist Muslims attacking you for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, do you not?
There are extremists who follow all sorts of ideologies throughout the world. I'd be a bit more concerned about drone strikes in the area perhaps :/
That, too. Obama didn't particularly mind whacking civilian non-combatants...we'll have to wait and see how Trump gets it done.
Yes! And it should be call: Clowns Chatroom. IMHO
or how about Free Thinkers :)
I dunno. Those lying clowns are getting on my nerve. Thinking is free but what's out there to think about or hidden so to not think about is what causing great distress and shame to us Americans and abroad. However, Free Thinkers sounds good. Have at it! Aloha!
There are no deity-granted or natural rights. There are only the rights one fights for. That's it. If people do not fight for them, they will be lost.
It's one thing I appreciate about Latin America. When their government pisses them off, they will go on the warpath. In Brazil, they are burning down government buildings! In the US... they complain on Facebook while sitting on their couch... or they let the government play them against others... team red vs team blue.
Thank you for your work here and congrats on 10k posts!