Tuesday, July 10, 2007
@4:34 AM
Assignment 1: Blogging task in response to 2 articlesSingapore has always been a multi racial and cultural country where racial disharmony can easily be started. Therefore, I think that Szilagyi’s view should be adopted in Singapore. I personally think that freedom of speech is necessary as it is seen as the citizen’s rights but if this is allowed in Singapore, internal conflicts between races might lead to big problems in the country. Hence, Szilagyi’s view about social responsibility is much more relevant in the context of Singapore.
With reference to the article by Peter Singer, “freedom of speech is essential to democratic regimes, and it must include the freedom to say what everyone else believes to be false, and even what many people find offensive”. It is indeed important to have freedom of speech to ensure that certain truths are let known to everybody and not restricted by the government or anyone. However, having such freedom will cause many people to feel offensive and lead to something disastrous. Therefore, I think that freedom of speech should be restricted to a certain extent and more importantly, having people to practise social responsibility.
With reference to the article by Zsofia Szilagyi, there is a main issue on “What is more important for the democratic advancement of a society – to ensure the freedom of expression of all its citizens or to protect the collective interests of society?” I feel that both are equally important. Citizens’ view on the political system is important to allow cooperation between the government and citizen, leading to democratic advancement. Protecting the interests of the citizens will foster social cohesion and make the country politically stable and be able to develop well. However, both cases cannot be done at the same time. So, in the context of Singapore, I will think that protecting the collective interests of society by having social responsibility will be more important as the only way for Singapore to prosper is having the citizens to work hand in hand.
In conclusion, freedom of speech should be limited to the extent where social cohesion will not be affected. Everyone should possess the social responsibility of not criticizing others openly to maintain the peace and harmony within the country.
