freedom of speech VS social responsibility

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?

Write a response of at least 300 words and 2 content paragraphs, and include materials from both articles as well as your own knowledge and experience.

Both authors have their own stand about how democracy should be but there is no definite right or wrong about their views. However in the context of Singapore’s multi-racial society, Szilagyi’s stand is more applicable.

Singer mentioned that “freedom of expression is a basic right” and “We must be free to deny the existence of God, and to criticize the teachings of Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, and Buddha, as reported in texts that millions of people regard as sacred”. But is his stand really applicable in Singapore? If you remember, in 1964, race riots broke out due to some misunderstandings between the Chinese and Malays resulting in injuries and deaths. So aren’t the riots enough to remind us of the fact that we give due respect to each other’s religions and not give insensitive comments?

Szilagyi mentioned that “once messages are out in public, they develop a life of their own and become subject to multiple interpretations, and often manipulation that serves political agendas” and “The press needs to serve the ever-evolving public interest, and it needs to do so by focusing on responsibility, and not solely on freedom”. I agree with his stand as I believe that everybody’s thinking is different and views towards same issues are subjective. Thus one cannot assume that whatever intentions behind what he/she say or published may not be interpreted differently by another person. This tells us that a sentence which may seems normal to you may just be the trigger to a break out of riot or worse a war between two nations.

Hence social responsibility is very important to a small country like Singapore. However, to achieve true democracy, freedom of speech is the long term strategy for Singapore. As it is only when can people fully understand a subject being it a religion or government policy. Freedom of speech is utilized in the right way when people have intensive debates to understand a culture or religion from all kinds of perspectives or to come up with solutions to problems or even better improvise new government policies so that the society welfare is maximized.

To have freedom of speech, I believe that social responsibility is the basic courtesy that everyone should have. Everyone should be responsible for what he/she says and be able to make statements that are supported by evidence and not abuse the freedom of speech where personal grudges or opinions are used to verbally attack a person or subject.

Sources:

www.project-syndicate.org

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/03/opinion/edsofia.php