For residents of democratic nations, a key tenant is to enable everyone the freedom to discover, disseminate, and apply knowledge for the benefit of themselves and everyone else is freedom of expression.

This open exchange of ideas and concepts relies on enabling rigorous inquiry and the robust expression and discussion of ideas – within our local, provincial, national, and global communities.

Limitations

Unfortunately, unlimited ability to express any ideas leads to some challenges.  There will always be ideas considered by some,  or perhaps even everyone,  offensive, unwise, immoral, or misguided.

Our societies define these boundaries through democratically created laws.  We are thus limited by the law as to how far we can go.  We have freedom of expression but our elected officials are allowed to restrict it.

And there lies the rub.  Of course, it seems logical we should have some restrictions but in essence, these restrictions are censorship. Censorship intended for the good of all,  but still, censorship.

The suppression or prohibition of all or parts of information whether it be books, films, news,  speech because they are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security is unfortunately subjective.

A Walk Through History

Our societies moral perspective morphs over time.  For example in the United States circa 1950, swearing in public or discussing lewd topics (whatever that is) was considered the criminal subject to a fine or even jail time.

Today while swearing in public might still be frowned upon by some it certainly is not against the law.  In fact, the language in the entertainment industry is much less restricted than it was 50 to 60 years ago.

I applaud free expression and constantly question the boundaries, but recognize there are limits, it’s just not clear where they should be drawn.