Freedom of Speech
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (118632)
Gainesville, Florida
January 10, 2016 3:43pm CST
After I wrote my post this morning about people tasting American food for the first time, I ran into a friend of mine who is Vietnamese. Her family immigrated from Vietnam when she was a school girl. Although she can't remember the first American food she tried when she came to this country, she did tell me that she still remembers the shock of when she first moved to America.
In her native Vietnam, the communist government force-fed the population their version of the Vietnam War, as well as other world events, and no one was allowed to talk about it or debate it. In fact, freedom of speech was not welcome in Vietnam.
My Vietnamese friend's first memory of coming to America was how shocked she was at how open everyone was! She couldn't believe that people could openly speak about anything they wanted in public, without fear of repercussion. It was not like that in her country.
Here in the US, we often take many of our freedoms for granted. Freedom of speech is often one of those freedoms we don't think much of. We can say just about anything we want, anytime we want, and not have to worry about getting jailed, or worse, disappearing forever. We don't have to look over our shoulder suspecting that men in black suits and dark sunglasses are going to show up any moment and ask us to take a ride with them in a nondescript government vehicle with dark tinted windows!
Have you ever thought about freedoms we enjoy that we take for granted? Have you thought about things we enjoy on a daily basis that millions of people around the world can only dream of? Do you ever ponder those rights we have that many people around the world have died for trying to seek freedom or a better life?
11 people like this
11 responses
@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
10 Jan 16
I think I do think of this often and especially when I am talking with friends of mine that are Muslim. I have spoken with so many of the young men because they are in my profession and when they tell me they are getting married I tell them how happy I am. Then comes the shocker they don't know the women they will marry. They will basically meet her a few months before the wedding. This bothers me a lot and I don't get it They still interfere in their kids lives and arrange for their marriage. There basically isn't freedom in a lot of places and I guess we are lucky to be where we are. I know for a fact I would never accept this arranged marriage in my life but I guess in some places it is the facts of life and how it is.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jan 16
Just wait until the Muslims start enforcing Sharia law! Women will basically become slaves to men, and will have no rights whatsoever.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (326354)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Jan 16
@moffittjc I read in the newspaper that Sharia law is being introduced into Brunei. This is a very backward step.
@JudyEv (326354)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Jan 16
Some of these arranged marriages work out exceptionally well. I don't know about all of them though.
@VivaLaDani13 (60584)
• Perth, Australia
23 Oct 17
@moffittjc To some extent I think about this stuff. But more personal things like not having my family and friends. I know what it's like to lose people so I never take the people close to me for granted.
But to answer more of what you are asking......I am not sure. My mind is a little confuzzled about what freedoms we have because sometimes I feel like we aren't all exactly free. It's a very long story as to why I think that but lately I feel like I am understanding more and more about what the world actually might be really like. I just don't feel we are as free as we think we are.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
23 Oct 17
You are pretty accurate in your feelings that we are not totally free. We are slaves to the military-industrial machine, who's strings are being pulled by the wealthiest few people on this planet. Our wealth, our media, and our politics are controlled by a tiny elite group of people on this planet.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Oct 17
@VivaLaDani13 Don't get me wrong, I do feel that as individuals we do have some control over own finances, and we can increase or decrease our wealth to some degree (pocket change to those in charge), but looking at the big picture everything that goes on in the world is controlled to some degree by a handful of powerful people. They've centralized control of all the world's banks and pull the strings without anyone knowing they're pulling the strings.
2 people like this
@VivaLaDani13 (60584)
• Perth, Australia
29 Oct 17
@moffittjc Do you know how rare it is for me to talk to someone personally about this stuff? I have been trying to convince my dad that that's how it is. Not an easy task. It's ok. I will keep trying. 
2 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
10 Jan 16
Freedom of speech is not practiced in some job sites. I once had a principal who said if anyone discussed anything he did not like on campus (speaking about teachers), he would "get us" and we "would be sorry". What a jerk. The Superintendent of Schools came down after that and set him straight.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Jan 16
Haha, sounds like the Superintendent came down and gave the principal a little attitude adjustment!
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
12 Jan 16
@moffittjc He stayed on campus for an entire week. This was unprecedented.
@oneoveralpha (434)
• Brookville, Pennsylvania
10 Jan 16
It's not a freedom, but something simple that millions don't have is electricity. There are some cities that are lucky if they have electricity for an hour a day, here people get annoyed if there's a storm and power is knocked out for half-an-hour.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jan 16
That is true, we definitely take our electricity for granted. I admit, I get pissed if the cable or internet goes out for 30 seconds. I guess I'm really spoiled in that respect.
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15487)
• United Kingdom
10 Jan 16
Don't know about the US but in the UK we don't have what I'd see as totally free speech.
You absolutely can not say anything you want without getting into trouble.
I personally think the restrictions have gone a little too far.
As for rights in general I'm really glad I live where I do.
What I think is funny is that so many want to come here and alter our values to fit in with their twisted views but the only reason they can come here in the first place is because of our values.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Jan 16
That is so true! Many of these immigrants are repressed in their own countries due to the values forced on them by their governments. So they escape those countries and risk their lives to come to our countries, and then fight to impose their restrictive culture on us. If they can't accept our values and adapt to our culture, then they shouldn't bother coming to our countries. I'm not trying to sound mean or unwelcoming, it's just frustrating that people immigrate here and then try to force their cultures and values on us.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Jan 16
@Mike197602 Get ready for them to impose Sharia law on you! Or at least try to! It won't be long before Europe is majority Muslim! It will be interesting to see how native Europeans respond when they find they are the minority population!
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15487)
• United Kingdom
10 Jan 16
@moffittjc 1000% agree.
you don't sound mean or unwelcoming...people need to fit in a bit more with the countries they are going to.
We've got a big issue with this in Europe with all the "refugees" from syria.
@Daljinder (23233)
• Bangalore, India
23 Oct 17
Yea, I have thought of it. Like in North Korea, they live a life disconnected from the outside world so I can't even imagine how that would feel. Then there are countries where YouTube and Facebook are banned. Might seem superficial but social media is a powerful tool that cannot be denied. Then we recently heard that women in Saudi Arab just got the right to drive cars. There are many such examples where you don't even have the freedom to live peacefully.
Take the countries where you actually have many many rights to freedom for speech, religion, education. But do they really?
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
23 Oct 17
Honestly, I think too much freedom can be a bad thing as much as it is a good thing. Many people are not responsible enough to handle the freedoms they are given. So maybe there needs to be a compromise in how much freedoms we are granted. Of course, I don't know what that happy medium is.
2 people like this
@Daljinder (23233)
• Bangalore, India
24 Oct 17
@moffittjc That is true because people use Freedom expression and speech nowadays to spread disharmony, or disrespect nation or target communities and then say, "oh but it was just an opinion" 
2 people like this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
10 Jan 16
Yes in my old age I thank G od every day we hav e all hese wnderful rights and we oftenwe do not even be grateful for them, even our variety of foodstuffs we are used to boggle the minds of foreigners who come to our stores We have such freedom of choice. I'm grateful every day
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Jan 16
I actually had a Russian woman mention that to me recently. She said she was overwhelmed by the amount of choices she had when she went to the stores here in America. In her native Russia, most of the shelves were often bare, and whatever products were in stock didn't provide many options.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45651)
• Philippines
11 Jan 16
freedom of movement and association for us females in my country, because it's so different for those who apply for work in strict middle eastern countries.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Jan 16
I wish schools did a better job of teaching our kids how to be good citizens. I remember having classes on citizenship when I was a kid in school, but it seems they don't offer things like that anymore. Freedom is a big responsibility, and people need to be taught how to use it wisely and be good citizens!
@Poppylicious (11133)
•
10 Jan 16
It's very easy to forget that we live in societies where we can do and say things which would be completely forbidden elsewhere. We are very lucky.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Jan 16
We have to be careful not to abuse our freedoms though. If we abuse freedom, those freedoms can easily be taken away from us. There's a lot of responsibility that comes with living in a free society. Many people nowadays forget about that.
@keepitsimpleyo (32)
•
11 Jan 16
A friend of mine went for tour to vietnam recently.
Really great place, they even have war museum and tell stories on how they stayed underground for counter attacks. Very inspiring. they are really brilliant. :)
@moffittjc (118632)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Jan 16
the Vietnamese are very wonderful people! Very brilliant, and very resilient! Ask any of our soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War, and they'll tell you how smart they were!
1 person likes this
