The Challenge of Free Expression

Recently I read an article over at the Jerusalem Post which struck a chord in me, particularly in light of the patriotic sympathies stirred by the 4^th of July.  In broad strokes the article discussed one of the grandest challenges rights organizations have historically had to tangle with, the issue of protecting the rights of those we disagree with.  Freedom of expression is perhaps one of the most difficult freedoms to ensure around the world, antithetical to repressive regimes and often morally repugnant even to the most open-minded of liberals, freedom of expression is nevertheless an essential component of a functional democracy.

I have fond memories of my first studies in Constitutional Law, Civil Rights, Ethics and the conceptual foundations of those freedoms we as Americans so often take for granted.  My first reading of National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie made for a harsh test of my belief in freedom of expression, yet on discussing the Justices’ finding with my classmates I came to recognize the decision as upholding one of those core tenets of what it means to be American.  Unlike many of the nations in the world, the US has never really been built on ethnicity or religion, but on a foundation of ideals like that upheld in this controversial decision.

This understanding has always been a difficult one for people to swallow, freedom of expression is a beautiful thing so long as our expression is the sort being defended but defense of those we abhor has historically and contemporarily rubbed people the wrong way.  Whether the most recent specter of security juxtaposed against internet freedom, desires to silence government dissidents or those who speak out religious and ethnic repression as in Newman’s article, some will always find reason to justify the denial of human rights to an enemy group.  Here if nowhere else we as Americans can offer a positive example to the rest of the world.