4.4.6 The Practice of Free Speech in a Pluralist Society

(This is an archived extract from the book Patterns of Power: Edition 2)

Communication, whether written, spoken or visual, is the principal medium of negotiation in the Moral Dimension; it is also the means by which a peaceful society can be stirred up, become polarised, and slide into conflict. There is a tension between allowing free speech and the need to protect society from those who might breach other people’s entitlement to peace, security and respect. The next few subsections examine aspects of this tension and suggest some guidelines:

· The need for free speech (4.4.6.1);

· Trying to convert other people (4.4.6.2);

· The freedom to criticise or satirise (4.4.6.3);

· The dangers of divisive language (4.4.6.4);

· Use of moral pressure to suppress divisive language (4.4.6.5).