“This Government is a (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) what a terrible government we have.”
Understanding that opinions can be wrong, and people can disagree with opinions, I would like to offer one now.
I lived in the United States my entire life. I realized one of the precious freedoms from living here is speaking freely; the ability to speak out your opinions, thoughts, and views is glorious freedom not found in many other parts of the world.
This thought came to my head when I heard the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, warn Olympic athletes to be careful expressing viewpoints when they are in China for the 2022 Winter Olympic games. Athletes have to self-sensor themselves in what they say and do in an authoritarian government like China.
Content Media Universe – Wide variety of content
A good test for me about freedom of speech is looking at the content media universe in your country. Can you find a variety of different content in the media universe? Can you find various news stories, social media posts, podcasts, and videos that express different opinions, thoughts, and ideas?
Proclaim to those in power that they are a group of (Bleep) (Bleep)
Another excellent test for me about freedom of speech is the ability to say out loud how bad is your current government without the fear of punishment. You live in a positive society if you can yell that your current rulers are a group of (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) without fear of punishment.
A sign that you are living in a great democracy is when people can proclaim how rotten the society is; the ability to say we live in a rotten society shows what a great society it is.
An author who better expressed this than me is Edvard Radzinsky of the book Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents From Russia’s Secret Archives (Copyright 1996 published by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.). He expressed:
“My father was an intellectual with a passionate love of European democracy. He often repeated a saying which he attributed to President Masaryk of Czechoslovakia: “What is happiness? It is having the right to go out onto the main square and to shout at the top of your voice, “Lord, what a bad government we have!” (First page of Preface).
May freedom long endure – and people can control their lives, including the freedom of speech.
Thanks for hearing my opinions. Thank you