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Actions are the first tragedy in life, words are the second. Words are perhaps the worst. Words are merciless.
-Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright, poet, and novelist, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892

With my first sentence, I'm going to go out on a limb and say; both you and I have the right to freedom of speech. If not then I can't imagine how you found a journal with "freedom of speech" in the title, thus is the nature of censorship.

Furthermore, I think we can all agree that free speech is definitely a good thing. Without it our literature, cinema and politics (to name a few) would be an entirely different ball game. We are free to come to our own conclusions about right and wrong, and free to say so without fear of being stoned to death.

Good Thing.

So why do I feel as though this freedom has started to turn sour?

Recently, the phrases "My Rights", "Freedom of Speech" and "Civil Liberties" now, for me, carry with them connotations of whinging. Moreover, it reminds me of times when people have used it as a defence for being a royal Pain in the Ass.

 What people seem to be forgetting is that your freedom of expression does not make you right.

Too many times I have seen people claim the defence of "freedom of expression" during an argument or demonstration as if this excuses them from common decency.

We are all granted free speech in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 19, FYI) but that is just a starting point, it is up to us to exercise this right responsibly. The use of language is like driving a car; you are a perfect liberty to do so, but you have to obey certain rules otherwise people get hurt.

And whilst we're on the subject, a little digression into the not-entirely-comfortable territory of "Rights". I'm getting so sick of people dividing rights into factions. Black rights, women's rights, religious rights, you name it, there'll be one.

I notice that many of these different groups all have one thing in common; a history of some sort of abuse or repression, and that is what annoys me the most.

Regardless of what "group" you decide that you belong in, a troubled past does not give you licence to behave with impunity now. Dividing rights into groups is basically a euphemistic veil that makes it okay for one person to claim special rights over another. There is no such thing as something like "religious rights" or "women's rights" because I think you'll find they all fall under the considerably larger category of Human Rights. Sure you have the right to participate in your culture, but that's it. It doesn't open doorways to any kind of preferential treatment.

Which brings me back to the original point. Your right to freedom of speech is loaded with responsibility, and if the pen is truly mightier than the sword then you should wield your words with care.