Following the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines
FREEDOM OF SPEECH VS. NATIONAL SECURITY
Free speech is a guarantee for democracy. Why do we care democratic regime? The answer is quite easy. Under a democratic regime, we can claim our rights. Freedom of expression is an important factor to find the social truth. The social life is a negotiation between varying cultural groups. If every individual can express herself or himself, then we can make sure there is no unjust influence on any person. However, free speech is not unlimited. As a general rule, one’s rights end where other one’s rights begin. The same rule is true for freedom of speech. Thus, the freedom of speech should not violate other people’s rights. Democracy means providing freedom for every individual in the community while we respect each other’s rights.
There exists a slight line between freedom of speech and violation of other people’s rights. Every person lives in a country. Country is the place to which we owe many important things. Therefore, we need to protect our country from the external and internal attacks. If there is no security inside the country, then freedom of speech and other freedoms do not mean anything. As known, through the end of 19th century, the nationalism ideology had influenced the entire world. The imperialistic states had come to an end. The last empire was the Ottomans and the strikes of the nations had destroyed the Ottoman Empire. The nationalist modern countries had developed an understanding of national security. The nationalistic approach had taught us that other nations are a threat to our nation.
National security had become an essential term in every country before and after the World War I and the World War II. Spying had been one of the big sins in this era. People were blamed of spying for other countries because of simple speeches. Some nationalist people were for punishing the people looking for freedom of speech. Every individual had to work for their country. No one needed so much freedom. The minorities had the worst their worst time in their countries. Even in some countries, the minorities were blamed of working against their country. Their properties were taken from them and they were exiled to the other countries. Especially, the Jewish people were announced as the betrayers in the European countries. Eventually, the national security was much more important than any freedom. The national security was always threatened. Thus, the freedom of speech was not allowed in many countries.
The nationalism had continued its influence until 1990s. After 1990, some people have been able to declare that the freedom of speech was important as much as the national security was. The developed countries have recognized the freedom of speech. 1990s has also brought us a new era of globalism. The international network, internet, has been an important emerging factor in our lives. The development in the transportation industry and the cheaper flying opportunities for people has contributed our lives. We have started travelling to the other countries freely. We have learned more about the other cultures. Consequently, we have faced the globalism. The world has been transformed into a large village.
The globalism has changed our understandings. In the old times, only a few people could go to the other countries and see the people and the life there. We were afraid of other cultures. Basically, it was the state of being afraid of the unknown. The fear of the unknown helped the nationalist ideology to develop the fear in the society and dictate some illogical rules. After the humankind has realized that we are not different from each other, the fear of the unknown has disappeared. Eve n we have started enjoying our differences. Analyzing the tourism statistics indicates us that the developed countries’ citizens are interested in variety of cultures. Also, in the developed countries, we see that freedom of speech is provided to the minorities from the different cultures.
Even the globalism has brought a new idea into our lives; we still face the warfare state around the world. The less developed countries and some of the developing countries engage in the wars. It is still possible to see that some people are blamed of spying against their countries. In many developing countries, a large number of press representatives are under custody. Therefore, we observe that the globalization and the economic development have contributed to the development of freedom of speech in many countries; however, in many countries, the freedom of speech is limited.
The history of the humankind shows us that the developed countries allow its citizens to express themselves freely. For instance, the North European countries and the U.S. had resolved the freedom issues in their lands. However, the less developed and the developing countries do not allow full freedom of speech. In another word, if a country is economically developed, this country can succeed the social development also. Consequently, economic development leads to social development. The social development means more freedom for people. The less developed and the developing countries face economic troubles and the social development cannot take place so fast in these countries. The social development seems to be the background for the freedom of speech. When people are not aware of their rights, it is easy for some people to lead the country to a less free environment. Also, it is easier to cause wars in and between the less developed and some of the developing countries. Simply we can claim that if the social development is not accomplished in a country, the people do not care the freedom of speech.
Consequently, there is not obvious relation between wars and the limited freedom of speech. The real issue is the human development or social development. If a society wants to have freedom of speech, no political or ideological group can prevent this. Especially, if every individual is developing their human capital, then it is impossible to make these people believe in illogical nationalism or other ideologies. Thus, the human capital development makes a great contribution to providing freedom of speech and democracy.
REFERENCES
Birchall, Clare. “Introduction to ‘Secrecy and Transparency’: The Politics of Opacity and
Openness.” Theory, Culture and Society 28 (December 2011): 7-25.
Silver, Derigan. “Power, National Security and Transparency: Judicial Decision Making and
Social Architecture in the Federal Courts.” Communication Law and Policy (Spring 2010): 129-74.
Smith, Jeffery A. War and Press Freedom: The Problem of Prerogative Power. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1999.
