Freedom

We are fortunate to live in a free democracy, however imperfect it is. UK citizens can speak their mind publicly, travel wherever they want, wear what they choose, are franchised, can withdraw their labour, are not conscripted into the armed forces, have access to a free press, internet & media for information, & are protected by law from discrimination.... to name just a few.

We are so used to freedom we feel entitled to it & take it for granted, unlike so many countries in the world today. In theory we only imprison people who have committed crimes which warrant such punishment. In theory, if someone seriously wrongs us, we have access to the Law & Justice. We are also free to decide what action to take if behaviour is unacceptable.

However such freedom has responsibility. In basic terms it is the responsibility to "do no harm". We should be bound by a moral code not to harm others by our words, actions or inactions. Harm can be physical or emotional. Freedom does not mean that anyone is entitled to denigrate or belittle another. Words are powerful & can be very hurtful. Human beings are like fragile flowers & can be crushed, especially the young.

On the other hand we must be careful not to curtail freedom too much. The right to free speech is important. On balance I don't agree with "no platforming". We are free to challenge hate speech, fake news & other forms of unacceptable speech & we should. That is a valuable freedom in itself.

A modern problem is the proliferation of fake news & misinformation. Many politicians & people with huge influence don't seem to value truth. They mostly value continuing power & income. We have not yet devised a way to hold these people to account effectively. We must.

It is often much easier not to challenge people who abuse freedom. That is the route to a loss of freedom. Each individual has to decide what behaviour is tolerable & what is not. We must stand up for freedom or we are lost. Too many brave people have been punished, abused or died to defend freedom to just let it be eroded away because we don't have the courage to defend it.