Assignment 1: Blogging Task

In the context of Singapore’s multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, I believe that Szilagyi’s view should be adopted. The fact that freedom of expression is important cannot be denied. However, as in the case of Singapore’s multi-racial society, social responsibility is even more crucial. Thus, freedom of expression has to be limited in the country.

With reference to the article by Peter Singer, “John Stuart Mill wrote that if a view is not ‘fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed,’ it will become ‘a dead dogma, not a living truth.’” I agree with his view that real truth can only be found through freedom of expression. But, when that freedom is unrestricted, it means that it will also “include the freedom to say what everyone else believes to be false, and even what many people find offensive.” In Singapore, that is highly likely to happen due to its multi-racial background. When it does, the development of the country will be greatly affected and it will be in a very vulnerable state. Hence, in order to prevent this from happening, there is a need for restriction of freedom of expression. Otherwise, consequences may be even more dire than that mentioned earlier.

From the article by Zsofia Szilagyi, it is shown that unrestricted freedom of expression will lead to undesirable effects as shown in the case of publishing the cartoons. In that example, the Danish and Norwegian newspapers only “wanted to make a statement about the extensive self-censorship”. But by publishing the cartoons, they have unintentionally cause “potential effects on Europe’s growing anti-Islam sentiments” and “provoked rage in the Muslim world.” Therefore, freedom of expression must be limited. This can only be achieved through the people’s cooperation. This is where social responsibility, which “places more emphasis on the media’s responsibility in leading an informed, high-quality discussion, with due respect for minority rights”, becomes essential.

From what I think, there is a need to protect the interests of the public in the country. Otherwise the public will give up on the country, affecting its development. Thus, freedom of expression should be limited, as some messages passed down in the society may be offensive to certain people or groups of people, affecting their interests. This may cause them to carry out serious actions that may result in heavy consequences. Hence, focus should be put on social responsibility, where interests of the people are being considered. And thus, media should always practice it such that there is peace and harmony in the country where public interests are protected.