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In the developed world the right of free speech should be imperative, however, it is a myth. The Macquarie dictionary defines free speech as follows ‘the right to voice one's opinions in public‘. Also, worldwide organisations like the United Nations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article, 19), acknowledged, that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. (Newman 11: 1997) In support to this, I will examine the extent to which the developed countries - through political devices - are restricting the notion of free speech. The circumstances under which free speech is restricted in the developed countries, will also be examined. The objective of this essay is to examine the recent problem that the world is facing - terrorism and its war - and the restriction of the free flow of information in that matter, and consequently of free speech and opinions amongst the media as well as the people of the ’free’ world. Historically, the most lasting argument for free speech came from the English philosophers John Stuart Mill and John Locke. Mill argued that open discussion was required for the discovery of truth. John Locke’s arguments in favour of freedom of thought and religious toleration have been co-opted in support of civil rights generally, as have the seventeenth-century political tracts of Benedict Spinoza. The scope of freedom advocated by Spinoza was: ’That in a free state everyone may think what he pleases, and say what he thinks’. (Newman: 1: 1997) However, the people of the past and their words of wisdom are not touching in anyway the leaders of the present, to implement an acceptable policy of freedom of speech. Without any doubt, the notion of freedom of speech - in the developed countries - has been the beneficial tool for the progress of rational ideas, and consequently of actions, to pursue the global spirit of happiness and freedom. In many cases, however, the restriction of free speech has been applied - especially in political issues - where people have to base their own opinions on lies and disinformation.
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