“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
George Orwell
Freedom of speech is one of the most precious and important human rights. A free society depends on the free exchange of ideas. Nearly all ideas are inherently capable of giving offence to someone. Many of the most important, profound ideas in human history, such as those of Galileo Galilei and Charles Darwin, caused great religious offence in their time. In Galileo’s case his discoveries led to conflict with the Roman Catholic Church and in 1633, after a formal trial, the Inquisition condemned Galileo as a suspected heretic for defending the geokinetic hypothesis and denying the astronomical authority of Scripture.
Elocal has had its fair share of criticism since we started many years ago. You can never please everyone with what is printed or written about in the media forum. But regardless of folk’s opinions on who and what we publish we believe all are entitled to their opinions if only to encourage robust debate in areas that would be otherwise be untouched by mainstream media who are often regarded as untrustworthy or having an alternative agenda. That’s not to say that all speech should be given a free reign. Speech that crosses the line and contains dangerous rhetoric that incites discrimination, violence and as a result, hostility, is not free speech it is speech that is hateful.
A fine line between the two.
The writer holds a lot of the responsibility in walking the tightrope between the two when communicating an opinion that is unpopular or against the current trends. Life is not black or white - there’s grey in between. There’s a multitude of shades and nuance which makes even the simple aspects of things complex. Presenting any ideas where someone is advocating their own beliefs should be written with words carefully chosen and with consideration to others. In this age of instant messaging and image capture, the old adage of think before you speak even more important.
There is no gold standard for distinguishing between hate speech and difference of opinion and it would seem that our own government is about to wade into the argument with the Department of Internal Affairs this week releasing a consultation document which proposes to have a law drafted which would establish a new ‘Regulator’ for online content. https://www.dia.govt.nz/safer-online-services-media-platforms-consultation
The response has been understandably varied. From mild, ‘it’s about time’, to uproar about the government’s overreach.
Regardless of where you stand, get involved, read and become aware of the proposal, talk to others, form your own opinion and don’t just parrot someone else’s. Make a submission if you so feel inclined to. Healthy, productive discussions are necessary to foster growth, tolerance, and understanding in our communities and if we leave it up to others with louder, more persuasive arguments, then we will be left ever wondering about what if….