• Famko@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I have to ask, what EU restrictions on free speech are there? Because I live in Europe and don’t really feel all that restricted in terms of speech.

    • ArbitraryValue
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      4 months ago

      Freedom of speech isn’t about saying the normal things that normal people say, because these things don’t need protection. It’s about saying things that are very offensive to the large majority of people. The latter is restricted in many parts of Europe and you probably don’t feel those restrictions personally because they don’t apply to what you want to say, but that doesn’t mean that you have free speech. If the offensive people don’t have it, no one has it.

      I do have to concede that European restrictions on speech have not created a slippery slope to dictatorship. I still defend a nearly absolute right to free speech because that’s a principle I believe in.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        So basically you want people to be free to harm other people with hate speech, slander, and libel without consequences because fReE sPeeCH AbsOluTIsm?