Freedom of expression
Freedom of expression is the right of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. Freedom of speech is sometimes seen as a more narrow concept referring to the right to communicate one's opinions and ideas without fear of government retaliation or censorship.
Contents
USA
People in the United States theoretically have the right to free speech, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The reality is somewhat different. Expressing content undesirable to the state leads to the loss of one's job and social ostracism. Also due to the increasing use of social media, the First Amendment is being replaced by the rules and censorship measures of the platform operators.
Federal Republic of Germany
In the Federal Republic of Germany there is indeed an Article 5 in the Basic Law[1], which grants every German citizen the right to freedom of expression (not to be confused with freedom of speech as in the USA), but this is practically useless, as every government defames and prosecutes his undesirable views as “hate and no opinion”, to the detriment of the nationalists.
Certain undesirable historical and political views are also prosecuted[2], which is why freedom of expression in Germany only applies to regime supporters. Thus, the FRG has neither freedom of speech nor freedom of opinion.
United Nations
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A). Article 19 states:
- Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Quotes
- “You can recognize justice by the fact that it gives everyone their due.” – Motto of the Black Eagle Order founded by Frederick I of Prussia
- “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” – Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
- What is called the general opinion is, when viewed in the light, the opinion of two or three people; and we would be convinced of this if we could see how such a generally valid opinion comes about. We would then find that it was two or three people who first assumed or formulated and asserted it, and who were kind enough to trust that they had examined it very thoroughly [...] Now agreement became a duty. Now the few who are capable of judging must remain silent: and those who are allowed to speak are those who are completely incapable of having their own opinions and judgments, who are merely echoes of other people's opinions; however, they are all the more zealous and intolerant defenders of them. For what they hate in someone who thinks differently is not so much the different opinion to which he professes, but the presumption of wanting to judge for himself; something which they themselves never undertake and are secretly aware of. – In short, very few can think, but everyone wants to have opinions [...] – Arthur Schopenhauer in "The Art of Being Right" (Trick 30)
- The cancer of the system is the primacy of the money principle, and its background is the disregard for the natural order. The more the breakdowns accumulate, the more those in power will attack their critics. The use of the means of power is the only admirable thing about them. Open resistance is therefore a waste of energy. The ruling powers consume and destroy themselves because the spirit eludes them. The call today is:
- 1) Become invisible!
- 2) Observe, recognize the signs!
- 3) Increase knowledge and spread it among friends!
- 4) Don't forget the smell of freedom! – Alois Mitterer, in: Signs and indications – Political tactics in the new millennium (final words), Deutschherrenklub (DHK), 2001
Enemies of free speech
- "Germany has no free speech and for good reason. We know in Germany and Austria where free speech can lead to: National Socialism." – Clemens Heni[3], founding Director of the Berlin International Center for the Study of antisemitism
- "Freedom of expression is actually a right of citizens to defend themselves against the state. In Germany, this has been reversed." – Jakob Schirrmacher, Lecturer for Media Education as well as Digitalization and Social Structural Change, welt.de, 18 February 2025[4]
- "We have the freedom of speech in Europe and in Germany. Everyone can say what he wants, even if he is a billionaire. And what we do not accept is if this is supporting extreme-right positions." – Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor from 2021 to 2025[5]
See also
- Dissidents
- Freedom of thought
- The Alt-Right and censorship
- Hate speech
- Cancel culture
- Anti-Holocaust revisionism
- Book burning/censorship and National Socialist Germany
- Political correctness
- Canadian Association for Free Expression
- Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism
External links
Article archives
- American Renaissance: Censorship
- Codoh: Freedom of Expression
- The Occidental Observer: Free Speech
- The Occidental Observer: Jewish Opposition to Free Speech
References
- ↑ Article 5 of the FRG Basic Law
- ↑ Court sends 95-year-old Holocaust denier to jail, The Brussels Times, 26 June 2024
- ↑ Clemens Heni: Former Yale Antisemitism Scholar, One Year Later
- ↑ Dass deutsche Behörden ihren Verfolgungseifer sogar feiern, schockiert am meisten, welt.de, 18 February 2025
- ↑ Germany's Scholz responds to Musk, saying freedom of speech must not back extreme-right, Reuters, 21 January 2025