On Free Speech (Coffee w/ K #2)

The differences between "free speech" in the United States of America and "free expression" in the European Union are discussed. As with all human rights, freedom of speech is quite complicated, especially when we are trying to determine which right takes precedence over others or the various rights of whom take precedence over different rights of others. But, at least in the USA, and in contrast to other countries, freedom of speech seems like it takes precedence.

Freedom of speech is bundled up with all the other freedoms listed in the First Amendment, which makes it possible to argue that freedom of speech underpins a lot of other important Americanisms: freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom to assemble, and freedom to petition the government for any grievance they might have.

However, as the HIVE community is keenly aware, with the ascendancy of capital in today's society, a lot of these freedoms are being directly threatened. Capital tends to operate like a black hole, sucking up everything around it. Those who have a lot of capital may not even realize the corrupting effect it has on their actions as often obtaining capital only incentivizes the obtaining of more capital. It becomes kind of a blind passion that obliterates all other notions. I think we saw that with the Tron/Steemit debacle. A perceived financial opportunity was seized without a full understanding of the facts of the STEEM blockchain technology & community. But capital aggrandizement was just too much to ignore.

We see this all the time in traditional industries, though. As corporations gobble up media companies, they tend to normalize and standardize what is covered, what is acceptable and even what is said. Down to the word. They maybe even censor their users and contributors.

That's why it is so important that we resist the association of free speech with money in all the arenas that we can.

I talk about all this and more in my article for the #FreeSpeech initiative of @theycallmedan. Check out the post here:
https://peakd.com/hive-174578/@shanghaipreneur/free-speech-is-what-makes-america-america