In your country - what does freedom of speech mean?

Mankwe dam reservoir in Pilanesberg is always a great spot to observe a variety of birds. I was hanging around the dam on a Sunday morning in June in the hopes of catching a Pied Kingfisher in my lense while it hovered. I found the Kingfisher sitting on a dead tree at the edge of the water. It was not in a mood to take off and hover. It was constantly chirping and then in a peculiar gesture, looking over it's shoulder. Almost as if it was afraid to chirp freely!

This made me think about the general freedom of speech scenario in the world today. Do we really have freedom of speech, I wondered. I plunged in to some research to sate my curiosity and came up with a good understanding where we stand on that subject. Before that though, here is the picture I took of that Pied Kingfisher with my Nikon P900.

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Freedom of speech is almost a cliche' figure of speech that is coveted by most intellectuals around the world. Common people on the street feel strongly about it but seldom know what that is.

Freedom of speech is often mistaken for being able to say stupid shit.

Often, freedom of thought is traded in by people and they are happy that they have freedom of speech!

In my humble view, freedom of speech is truly imbibed and adopted in a society when people realize that the basic intent of freedom of speech regulation in any country is that people should have the right to express themselves freely and publically, without restraint, censorship or legal penalty BUT the right needs to be exercised by people with due regard to the safety, security and dignity of individuals as well as the nation.

Maturity is essentially required to be displayed by a society regarding the freedom of speech. Though there may not be a congregation of thoughts on any particular subject, the voice that brings the dissident view should also be honored and heard. Voltaire's comment on this aspect is very apt.

"I disapprove of what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire

I am disappointed to see, around me that no one is actually defending our right to freedom of speech. In the regions that I haunt regularly, India and Africa, often only lip service is given to freedom of speech. People are not openly oppressed about what they say but the environment is created such that the common man is too afraid to raise his voice.

It is interesting to take a look and see what the situation is around the world.

Global Attitudes survey on Freedom of Speech, Press and Internet

As per this source, results of a survey conducted on aspects related to freedom of speech in 38 countries are as follows:

It comes as no surprise to me that Americans are the most supportive of freedom of speech, press and internet.

Tolerance Index

AS per this source, researchers conducted a survey with 5 questions related to freedom of expression and provided scores based on which a 'toelrance index' has been calculated. Following image is self explanatory when it comes to seeing the tolerance level of various countries.

As we can easily see from the image, many countries in Asia and Africa appear to be stifling freedom of speech. My impression, mentioned above, based on my travels, is true.

Emerging role of social media

Social media, offering a bit of a cloak of anonymity, is proving to be good route for freedom of expression. However, the centralized access control in countries like China is stopping people en-mass from expressing ANYTHING on social media.

Digital censorship is at it's maximum in some countries.

Decentralized content creation platforms may be the answer?

In Conclusion:

Speaking freely is a fundamental right - defend it with all your might!

Steemians, please comment freely to share your experiences, knowledge and views about freedom of speech status in your own country.Thanks.

Note: All images except for the wildlife photos and the title image created by me are from pixabay.com.

Gif crafted by the Legendary @stellabelle for me![]