What is Actually Right?!

The title of the article itself is self explanatory of the complexity attached to the issue of freedom of expression. In our current 21st century, where the world is technically shrinking due the astounding advancement of technology and its ability to connect to the global community; information is dissipated at the blink of an eye and events happening at one end of the globe serves to be the flash news at the very next moment. Due to the staggering growth of our society, the issue of freedom to express one's individual opinions is one that is accepted with mixed reactions. Moreover in our cosmopolitian city of Singapore, where it is essential to maintain racial harmony and cohesion, the debate of freedom against societal responsibility is ongoing and , till now, never ending. My take on this issue is that social responsiblity should have precedence over the need of freedom of expression,but, with it still being given importance and thus, not neglected. Thus I would have to agree with the author, Szilagyi's view.



In the land where its forefathers came from various ends of the globe and the present day society diverse with rich cultures and heritage contributed by the different races, it is no wonder that the Singapore government is careful not to displace the balance it has obtained between securing pluralism and yet maintaining social harmony. This is so as radical racial views expressed under the blanket of freedom of expression is not accepted here in Singapore. Last year the blogger who discriminated and disgraced the islamic religion, and doing so almost instigated bitterness between the various racial communities, was given due punishment by the law. This is so as people grow sensitive to remarks that are said pin pointing a specific religion or community, irregardless of whether it is deemed of being showcased under the blanket of freedom of expression or not. Thus the issue of sensitivity is one that is very volatile, subjective, and definitely not to be taken lightly as one's individual opinion tends to be interpreted differently by others thus causing it to possess a life of its own depending on how it is being manipulated. So excercising social responsibility and being wary of how even a small comment could snowball into a major issue, paving the way for terrorism and racial conflicts could save a multi racial country like Singapore from undesirable outbursts and racial tensions. However, one can argue that freedom of expression is a right that an individual possess and that the public is to be blamed if it not discerning enough and thereby naive to take heed of another's sayings. But the crux of the matter is that expecting others not to form undesirable opinions on one's expressions is somewhat silly, and hence by preventing those conflicting expressions being displayed in the first place and practicing social responsibility, one is assured that the cradle of sensitivity is not tampered with thus ensuring peace is maintained.





Secondly the surging media makes the concept of freedom of expression even harder to integrate in our societies. The issue the media is grappling with is whether to secure individual freedom or work towards collective interests of the society. Of course the Danish and Norwegian newspapers that originally published the cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad had no intentions to spark off rage in the Muslin world; but it did. So the mass media's and the press's ability to disseminate information and make it avaliable at our fingertips, causes the importance of displaying social responsibility to increase even further as the vulnerability of the expressions increases as well. The internet also serves to be the gateway in which personal opinions are displayed. However displaying our private thoughts on the world wide web serves to be an irony as it is no longer private and individual but rather made public and promulgated. Thus the freedom of expression comes under the control of the manipulation of the media and so posses a greater threat to cause imbalance in the society with regards to issus such as religion and terrorism. with Singapore striving to be an Inter Faith hub, social responsibility is clearly more important as it ensures that no particular religious community gets offended and the public is able to live harmoniously despite the diverse heritages.