Not just THE constitution, but is any constitution going to protect it? If the “free” country can’t keep up with its constitution, are there other countries that stand a chance to keep something like a person's right to consume, and express, any speech they want or feel is needed?
I’m going to say in advance, I take the constitution by the words it says, by the definitions of such, and assume it means that things the constitution protects, are hard no-fly zones for congress or anyone else to touch.
We all, for the most part, understand that freedom of speech is needed at leased in a general sense. Unfortunately, we won’t always hear things we want to hear, and many times we will think something we don’t agree with shouldn’t be able to be said. The issue, I feel, seems to always go back to where to put this line that can’t be crossed. Like how offensive can speech be before we cancel it? Or in what ways can we cancel it? Are there certain categories that are okay to filter and others that can’t be touched?
There are many instances where platforms like Twitter and Facebook can easily shut someone down like Alex Jones because they have terms of use that are violated. Is this really infringing on freedom of speech? Maybe we need to bear in mind a private companies right to refuse service to anyone, which is also protected for its own reasons. Luckily we also retain the right to create our own platform or challenge others' speech with our own.
While in the US we’ve done pretty well at protecting this concept of free speech and have some of the best protections, it still comes up many times how it is being challenged. Challenged by either wanting to federally control social media giants or by shutting down protests. We see it infringed upon repeatedly and it seems at this point the authorities only care to follow the constitution as optional guidelines and is also not very capable in enforcing it on private institutions.
So as it turns out, in regards to giving us a guarantee, the constitution is more just a piece of paper that carries a reminder of what’s important. What it stands for and describes is something we have to protect constantly. This is why blockchain is constantly growing. This is why new protocols such as federated social networks are being created. We’ve been, little by little, realizing all over the world we need to keep ourselves free and we need to utilize the tools to do it.
We will constantly keep innovating but oppressors will never stop trying to take away your right to call out those in power. Luckily I’m optimistic for the future of free speech as the tools are becoming prevalent to ensure speech remains free. That free speech will lay the foundation to keep our other freedoms intact. It won’t be done by politicians though. It will be done by innovators and people who believe in what the constitution says and will put in the work to prove to everyone that the protocols that protect its concepts are bound to grow.
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