There is no such thing as freedom of expression. Today, in a world dominated by "post-truths", one can no longer say what one thinks or believes, without fearing to be the victim of a widespread booing of those who claim to possess the truth. Political correctness controls what can be spoken or communicated, anything other than that must be despised. As Hillary Clinton said about Trump's voters, they were a "deplorable" group of people, simply because they didn't think like the establishment.
Freedom of expression means being able to express our opinion on any issue without expecting overwhelming social reproach for a stance that is not in line with what everyone thinks'.
The main culprits of this phenomenon are the elites since they are the ones who have structured an official discourse, an objective truth, about which one cannot disagree without becoming an outcast. This discourse goes down to the rest of the citizens, who simply reproduce it in a carefree way, taking as a defense argument that it has been said "by someone more intelligent or capable", which avoids any possibility of questioning, ridiculing the detractor. Thus, for example, the discourse against the AFPs, which seems to have emerged from a social movement, is ideologically directed and established by an elite, which today prevents it from speaking out in favor of them without being called upon.
The paradox of the 21st century is that, at a time when the human being has an infinite number of means at his disposal for the dissemination of ideas, thanks to the contribution of the Internet, it is the time when the least can be said without being beaten and despised by those who think differently. After barbaric appellatives - such as facho, homophobic or racist - the lack of argumentation is evident. "Insult, insult, for the truth, is on your side," seems to be the logic of current social relations.
The worrying thing about all this, beyond the evident lack of democratic sense of current social behavior, is that it is the perfect scenario for the emergence of populists who, with the spearhead of overthrowing the elite that defends this correction, may be able to bring together large majorities who legitimately feel that their opinions are despised by those who claim to have the objective truth. Trump and Le Pen are recent examples of this phenomenon.
Are our political-intellectual elites so short of mind that they are unable to grasp the feelings of those who cannot freely raise their voices? I do not think that, on the contrary, this is a deliberate attitude of political manipulation.
In the construction of a modern, free and democratic society we must be able to debate ideas and arguments, not remain in the emptiness of the "no, why not" so present today. The elites must understand that what they think is not what everyone thinks, they must learn to listen and be able to dialogue, without insults. We must put an end to the dictatorship of political correctness in order to prevent the debacle.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://blackliberal.vornix.blog/2018/07/04/brief-reflection-freedom-of-expression/