The Limits On Free Speech

Not only Paris, but the whole world was stunned with the Charlie Hebdo attack as 12 people were shot to death at a publishing house on the morning of January 7, 2015. It resulted to France being on high terror alert and a massive manhunt was conducted - killing the suspects on January 9, 2015. The suspects were identified as Said and Cherif Kouachi, brothers who were mentioned as members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda even claimed that the attack took them years to plan as the magazine published various cartoons which insulted the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of the Islam religion. About two million people, including 40 world leaders flocked in Paris for a rally of national unity emphasising one's person right to freedom of speech. Famous personalities that reacted on the attack included Mark Zuckerberg making a facebook post which stated:

            "A few years ago, an extremist in Pakistan fought to have me sentenced to death because Facebook refused to ban content about Mohammed that offended him.

We stood up for this because different voices -- even if they're sometimes offensive -- can make the world a better and more interesting place.

Facebook has always been a place where people across the world share their views and ideas. We follow the laws in each country, but we never let one country or group of people dictate what people can share across the world.

Yet as I reflect on yesterday's attack and my own experience with extremism, this is what we all need to reject -- a group of extremists trying to silence the voices and opinions of everyone else around the world.

I won't let that happen on Facebook. I'm committed to building a service where you can speak freely without fear of violence.

My thoughts are with the victims, their families, the people of France and the people all over the world who choose to share their views and ideas, even when that takes courage. ‪#‎JeSuisCharlie" 

Another personality who commented on this attack is Pope Francis stating that here are still limits with freedom of speech saying that it is also a duty to speak one's mind for the sake of the common good. He also urged to treat the media with respect.

Many questions were raised in our group with regards to the practice of this 'freedom' that we all have. Can we really just say or write what we want without expecting any repercussions? We are not claiming that the Al-Qaeda committed a justifiable thing by murdering 12 people from the publishing house, but don't writers, editors or any person affiliated with this field be aware of the responsibilities that comes with this right?

Freedom of speech definitely makes the world a more interesting place but shouldn't we also take into consideration the culture, religion, being more frank here, avoid insulting 1.6B Muslims worldwide with something as intimate as their religion. We, 100% don't approve of the crimes done by these two people, obviously. But we also on the other hand don't condone the publication of offensive and disrespectful material to the public. There is no doubt that we support movements on free speech but shouldn't we all use this right for the greater good? Instead of creating higher barriers of differences in race and culture among us.

After the attack, there was a great increase to an already great number of people slamming the Islam religion's claim of it being a religion of love and peace. It's painful to imagine being hated by having a religion and being in a race that is claimed to be 'hateful' and 'terrorising'. But why can't they when top news networks such as CNN and BBC never miss to report crimes that were done by people having the same race and culture. With all of us having a rational mind, can it really be difficult for us to stop generalising a group of extremists as the characteristic of one whole nation - one whole race? You may be in denial but you can't help but admit that more fear is struck upon people especially when they find out Muslims are responsible for a certain attack on any Western soil. 

Freedom of speech is a right that surely every person can practice. Although, knowing that you are in a position that has a louder voice, or a louder 'megaphone' to say the least (rather than others), they need to practice this right with upmost responsibility and integrity. With the advancement of technology and the wide use of the internet people are having an easier time hearing and being heard.  Social networks are said to be 'connecting' people from all around the world, although with one having wrong views on how to use our free speech it may rather create barriers rather than a connection. The voice heard by many should in one way or another, promote peace and unity amongst people rather than creating deeper rifts between nations, race and religion. If you want to be heard, make sure it is something for the better - we must not aim to be a part of a never ending problem but we all must aim to be a solution to it. Keeping in mind that with free speech comes responsibility and respect.