Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Is the freedom of speech the freedom to offend?
BBC takes a look at this question in a recent piece. Two interesting quotes from the article:
Today, the "growing deluge" of artists graduating from college, means many resort to causing offence, says Mr Walker, simply as a means of standing out from the crowd.
The right to freedom of speech is still relatively new and we are like adolescents, insufficiently mature in how we should use it.
The article also points out that, in the arts, any publicity tends to benefit the artist - another reason for the observation Mr. Walker (author of a book on Art and Outrage) makes. There remains an important distinction that appears to be absent.
If the sole purpose of one's expression (speech or not) is to offend the other, and nothing more, then it is indeed a sign of 'immaturity in the use of the freedom of expression'. Of course, one could justify all sorts of reasons other than intended offense as the objective - this is what makes the issue so subjective.
By the same token, if the sole reason for silence is driven by the desire to not offend anyone, then we are not far away from 'immaturity in the use of the freedom of expression.' In this case however, it is upto the individual on how much silence affects his or her happiness. For most people, there is clearly a balance based on factors such as where you are, who you are with, how important is it for you to express your point and does it actually encourage an exchange of ideas (of course, you wouldn't know this unless you expressed what you want to). To me, It appears that this balance is tilted more towards 'political correctness' than should be.
Finally, there will always be people (those who live off the expression of ideas) that will benefit from social trends of what gets covered. Why then does offensive material get on an average more coverage than an average non-offensive piece? Is society, in its desperate craving for political incorrectness, turning to artists? Is it the case that more politically correct societies are also societies where offensive art gets more coverage?
Today, the "growing deluge" of artists graduating from college, means many resort to causing offence, says Mr Walker, simply as a means of standing out from the crowd.
The right to freedom of speech is still relatively new and we are like adolescents, insufficiently mature in how we should use it.
The article also points out that, in the arts, any publicity tends to benefit the artist - another reason for the observation Mr. Walker (author of a book on Art and Outrage) makes. There remains an important distinction that appears to be absent.
If the sole purpose of one's expression (speech or not) is to offend the other, and nothing more, then it is indeed a sign of 'immaturity in the use of the freedom of expression'. Of course, one could justify all sorts of reasons other than intended offense as the objective - this is what makes the issue so subjective.
By the same token, if the sole reason for silence is driven by the desire to not offend anyone, then we are not far away from 'immaturity in the use of the freedom of expression.' In this case however, it is upto the individual on how much silence affects his or her happiness. For most people, there is clearly a balance based on factors such as where you are, who you are with, how important is it for you to express your point and does it actually encourage an exchange of ideas (of course, you wouldn't know this unless you expressed what you want to). To me, It appears that this balance is tilted more towards 'political correctness' than should be.
Finally, there will always be people (those who live off the expression of ideas) that will benefit from social trends of what gets covered. Why then does offensive material get on an average more coverage than an average non-offensive piece? Is society, in its desperate craving for political incorrectness, turning to artists? Is it the case that more politically correct societies are also societies where offensive art gets more coverage?
