Hong Kong loses the right of free speech is a warning to the world to tolerate differences.
The paradox of the world is more connected than ever before, yet free speech being silenced is mind-blowing. It shows the intellectual immaturity of our society and other “democracies”. It makes you wonder if freedom of speech was real or duped people into trusting their government. As Hong Kong independent media loses the right of free speech we look at how and why free speech is essential and the spiritual aspects as well. Furthermore, free speech is only as powerful as your ability to tolerate opinions different from yours. Unfortunately, with data and psychology marketing the knowledge to trigger various demographics is easier than ever. This is why developing a spiritual foundation is crucial.
Before the internet, the invention of the press is really when free speech became an issue, hundreds of years ago. The printing press was the first social media platform that could influence and inform its readers. While there was some independent press, others were loyalists who pledge their faith to the King/Queen of England…In terms of the right of free speech, there was and still is a cost. Loyalists and other government-funded printers had more restricted speech because they founded them. Independent printers had more freedom of speech but often struggled to find consistent funding amongst the people. Perhaps due to mass-circulation and influence, the government had more intellectual property in the minds of the masses. As a result, the masses found it difficult to deal with differences of opinion. However, should the masses of the people share so many of the same opinions and views on numerous topics?
I request all who are angry with me on the Account of printing
things they don’t like, calmly to consider these following
Particulars
1. That the Opinions of Men are almost as various as their
Faces; an Observation general enough to become a common Proverb, _So
many Men so many Minds._
2. That the Business of Printing has chiefly to do with Mens
Benjamin Franklin’s apology to the printers
Opinions; most things that are printed tending to promote some, or
oppose others.
Because people are so triggered by hyperbole we forget media is a business. It’s is designed to divide and trigger you more than inform you. Since the inception of the press, hundreds of years ago printers remained loyal to whoever funded them. Things were different then, no buses, no cars, no internet or planes, the press was relied on for information because of lack of access to the world. Our convenient way of living has stifled our curiosity to where we don’t want to think for ourselves. Today, political campaigns employ cult-like tactics to win elections to brainwashed voter bases. Rather than appealing and speaking to the independent thought that resonates within us all.
Furthermore, due to the world wide web, influence is global which is a national security threat to countries.
4. That it is as unreasonable in any one Man or Set of Men to
Benjamin Franklin’s apology to the printers
expect to be pleas’d with every thing that is printed, as to think
that nobody ought to be pleas’d but themselves.
5. Printers are educated in the Belief, that when Men differ in
Benjamin Franklin’s apology to the printers
Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being
heard by the Publick; and that when Truth and Error have fair Play,
the former is always an overmatch for the latter: Hence they
chearfully serve all contending Writers that pay them well, without
regarding on which side they are of the Question in Dispute
8. That if all Printers were determin’d not to print any thing
Benjamin Franklin’s apology to the printers
till they were sure it would offend no body, there would be very
little printed.
In terms of very little printed, we go to Hong Kong which has suppressed free press completely. On June 30th 2020 the National security law imposed strict restrictions on freedom of the press. Some of the fines were maximum life sentences in jail. The NSL did advocate for humans rights, but used vague guidelines where the right of free speech can be subject to violation. This tactic isn’t new by the Chinese communist party and is used to instill fear and confusion into the general population.
To try and put the crackdown on media in Hong Kong into perspective for an American audience, an analogous situation is that in just over a year, the Washington Post would have shut down and deleted its entire online presence after Jeff Bezos was arrested and his and the paper’s parent company’s assets frozen. The entire Post executive team and senior news staff would be in jail. Buzzfeed would have deleted all of its opinion articles out of fear of arrest. National Public Radio would have deleted all of its content older than a year, pulled popular programing, and threatened to charge journalists for producing those shows. For Hong Kongers, this is the reality they have to contend with as Beijing dismantles their previously free society.
the first person convicted under the NSL, Tong Ying-kit, received a nine-year prison sentence in July 2021 for displaying a political slogan while driving dangerously
Written Testimony by Angeli Datt
Senior Research Analyst for China, Hong Kong,
and Taiwan at Freedom House
In conclusion, American’s have to evolve intellectually and spiritually to prevent this from happening in the states. The right of free speech is just as if not more important than the second amendment. How those who have the data to manipulate us, controls society. We have to acknowledge our biases and logical fallacies. As a result this will give us the much needed objectivity in not only accessing opposing ideologies but our own as well. As the “system” continues to accelerate the contradictions and divide us further, we must swallow our pride. Humble our ego, and reach other where they are to find common ground. Sticks and stones aren’t breaking bones any more but words can definitely hurt you in today’s sensitive climate.