Freedom of Speech

Singer believes that freedom of expression is essential to any democracy and therefore should not be limited. On the other hand, Szilagyi believes that more focus should be placed on social responsibility.
In the context of Singapore’s multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, which author’s view do you think should be adopted?

In Singapore’s multi-racial society, the people of the different races respect each others tradition, language and culture and hence they are able to befriend each other and live together in harmony. Hence, Szilagyi’s views should be adopted.

According to Singer’s views, he insists of applying the freedom of expression, even if it offends Muslims, Christians, Jews, or any other races. This directly conflicts the multi-racial society in Singapore. If this view is adopted in Singapore, many racial conflicts would certainly occur and how would the people be able to live in harmony?

As Szilagyi said, if the media wants freedom of speech to be implemented, they must have the basic responsibility of knowing of is appropriate to publish and what would offend the people. This is something which most media do not possess as they would just publish anything to boost their ratings, including materials which will offend people.

Having freedom of expression might be essential for democratic regimes, but having to offend the public in the process is not a good choice. As the offences become more serious, the people might not be able to endure it anymore and end up revolting and thus destroying peace in the country. Furthermore, freedom of speech can cause tension between countries and if a war were to break out, many innocent lives would be lost.

The freedom of speech allows anyone to speak out their opinions, be it good or bad and if it is a negative statement, it might influence others to think the same way and so people might have opinionated views on other people or countries.

Therefore, the freedom of speech should be limited, even if it should aid in the development of democratic regimes, as it could cause hostility between the people or between countries. Szilagyi’s view of instilling social responsibility is thus more appropriate for Singapore’s society.