Freedom of Speech and Expression

Author(s):  
Richard Sorabji

This book on freedom of speech and expression starts (chapter 1) with an inter-cultural history of this valued right through the ages and then recalls (chapter 2) the benefits for which we rightly value it. But what about speech that frustrates these benefits? Supporters of the benefits of free speech have reason to exercise voluntary self-restraint on speech which frustrates the benefits. They should also cultivate a second remedy: the art, illustrated in chapter 1, and called by Gandhi the art of ‘opening ears’, by other kinds of speech and conduct. Such voluntary methods are to be preferred to legal constraints. But (chapter 3) legal constraint is sometimes necessary. In the twenty-first century, social media funding based on manipulation of personal speech data requires skilful legislation and enforcement in favour of social media that protect freedoms.

At least four writing systems—in addition to the Phoenician, Greek, and Latin ones—were used between the fifth century BCE and the first century CE to write the indigenous languages of the Iberian peninsula (the so-called Palaeohispanic languages): Tartessian, Iberian, Celtiberian, and Lusitanian. In total over three thousand inscriptions are preserved in what is certainly the largest corpus of epigraphic expression in the western Mediterranean world with the exception of the Italian peninsula. The aim of this book is to present a state of the question that includes the latest cutting-edge scholarship on these epigraphies and the languages that they transmit. To do so, the editors have put together a volume that from a multidisciplinary perspective brings together linguistic, philological, epigraphic, numismatic, historical, and archaeological aspects of the surviving inscriptions. The study of these languages is essential to achieve a better understanding of the social, economic, and cultural history of Hispania and the ancient western Mediterranean. They are also the key to our understanding of colonial Phoenician and Greek literacy, which lies at the root of the spread of these languages and also of the diffusion of Roman literacy, which played an important role in the final expansion of the so-called Palaeohispanic languages.


1978 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-237
Author(s):  
J. Manuel Espinosa

The centuries-old Spanish folk heritage of our Southwest, and its many faceted and enduring influence on the cultural life of the region, has been written about from various rims of observation. This article describes the pioneer studies of Aurelio M. Espinosa on Spanish folklore in the Southwest, with special emphasis on northern New Mexico. Although he made important contributions to the study of Spanish folklore of southern Colorado, Arizona, and California, and to that of Spain, Mexico, and other parts of Spanish America as well, he devoted most of his research and field work to the upper half of New Mexico which is the richest field of Spanish folklore in the Southwest.In viewing the cultural history of New Mexico, Espinosa reminded his readers that its first century as a Spanish colony, the 17th, was the second great century of Spain's Golden Age of arts and letters. With the vigor of Spain's sense of mission in those centuries, her Golden Age radiated to all parts of Spanish America via Mexico City, Lima, and the other principal colonial capitals. At the same time, from the bookshelf and the store of knowledge of the humble missionary, and the folklore of the Spanish settlers, passed down from generation to generation, the spirit of the Golden Age was reflected on the most remote settled frontiers.


2018 ◽  
pp. 126-150
Author(s):  
Sarah Wood

This chapter locates the figure of Félix Éboué in the cultural politics of commemoration in Guyane. It offers a cultural history of the production of memorials to Éboué in Guyane (his birthplace) and beyond, assessing the role of these markers of national power in the local landscape. The chapter focuses first on the monument located in central Cayenne, produced at the instigation of a local committee and inaugurated in 1957, towards the end of the Fourth Republic. It then addresses the revival of 'memory' of Éboué and the renewal of his presence in Guyane which occurred during the 2000s. Instigated in part by Christiane Taubira, this culminated in the renaming of the only international airport in the Département — the key point of arrival and departure between Paris and Cayenne. The chapter concludes by asking how the vision of Guyane asserted in the act of ‘remembering’ Éboué has changed or been adapted in the twenty-first century.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-183
Author(s):  
Michael Shenkar

The sensational finds made at Tillya Tepe in Northern Afghanistan close to the modern city of Sheberghān, are the primary source for reconstructing the cultural history of Bactria in the turbulent period between the end of Greek rule and the rise of the Kushan Empire. The paucity of written sources from this period (mid second centurybceto mid first centuryce), and our resulting lack of understanding of even major political and cultural events, has led to its apt characterization as the “Dark Age” of Bactrian history. In this context, a special place should therefore be reserved for archaeological finds and Tillya Tepe is undoubtedly the most important site of this period. The significance of the Tillya Tepe finds for the reconstruction of Bactrian history and its cultural landscape has long been recognized, but they still have much to offer in terms of historical inquiry. In what follows I shall attempt a new reconstruction of the headdress of a “prince” buried in Graveivand conclude that it allows us to place him within the orbit of the Indo-Parthian Gondopharid dynasty, one of the most powerful regional political entities of the period.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-171
Author(s):  
Antanas Andrijauskas

The object of the article is the duality of the cultural‐historical memory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania between the worlds of the Latin West and the Byzantine Slavic East, strongly affected the historical memory and mentality of the Lithuanian nation and shaped many of the forms of cultural and national self‐identification, forms which are historically changing and characteristic for a border culture. After concisely discussing various aspects of the cultural history of the GDL, that have strongly affected Lithuanian historical memory, it is possible to state that homogeneity was alien for Lithuanian culture, which had insinuated itself between the Latin West and the Byzantine East and which, from the first century of the appearance of the state, was distinguished by a heterogeneous cultural orientation with diverse directions.


Author(s):  
Andrew Altman

Freedom of speech and religion are among the central values of modern constitutional democracies. Efforts to understand what these freedoms mean and why they are important, and to translate them into enduring institutional arrangements, constitute a major part of the history of such democracies. As the twenty-first century begins, the political and theoretical debates over these values are not the same as they were in the past. Although centuries of philosophical controversy and institutional experimentation have settled some issues, others have been raised, with some surprising twists. Constitutional democracies rest on the principle that all citizens are to be treated as free and equal persons under the law. The principle is the settled starting point for all reasonable debate about freedom of speech and religion, and it entails that the law must secure for each citizen an equal and extensive scheme of basic liberties, including the liberties of speech and religion.


Author(s):  
Peter J. Schmelz

Sonic Overload presents a musically centered cultural history of the late Soviet Union. It focuses on polystylism in music as a response to the information overload swamping listeners in the Soviet Union during its final decades. The central themes are collage, popular music, kitsch, and eschatology. The book traces the ways in which leading composers Alfred Schnittke and Valentin Silvestrov initially embraced and assimilated popular sources before ultimately rejecting them. Polystylism first responded to the utopian impulses of Soviet doctrine with utopian impulses to encompass all musical styles, from “high” to “low.” But these initial all-embracing aspirations were soon followed by retreats to alternate utopias founded on carefully selecting satisfactory borrowings, as familiar hierarchies of culture, taste, and class reasserted themselves. Looking at polystylism in the late USSR tells us about past and present, near and far, as it probes the musical roots of the overloaded, distracted present. Sonic Overload is intended for musicologists and Soviet, Russian, and Ukrainian specialists in history, the arts, film, and literature, but it also targets a wider scholarly audience, including readers interested in twentieth- and twenty-first century music; modernism and postmodernism; quotation and collage; the intersections of “high” and “low” cultures; and politics and the arts. Based on archival research, oral historical interviews, and other overlooked primary materials, as well as close listening and thorough examination of scores and recordings, Sonic Overload presents a multilayered and comprehensive portrait of late-Soviet polystylism and cultural life, and of the music of Silvestrov and Schnittke.


Author(s):  
Frederick Schauer

This chapter investigates whether speech acts of urging, advising, recommending, instructing, and informing ought all to be treated in the same way for purposes of implementing a principle of freedom of speech, and asks: If not, how do we justify treating them differently? This problem is arguably more pressing than it has been in the past, as the internet and various forms of social media have seemingly caused the mass distribution of instructions for committing antisocial acts have proliferated. After discussion of examples of publications that allow the reader to acquire knowledge on how to engage in dangerous activities, the chapter concludes that the normative and philosophical questions about the relationship between freedom of speech and the provision of instructions, plans, recipes, and detailed facts are in the final analysis less philosophical than they are empirical and social scientific.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-236
Author(s):  
Richard Sorabji

AbstractI have argued elsewhere that in past history, freedom of speech, whether granted to few or many, was granted as bestowing some important benefit. John Stuart Mill, for example, in On Liberty, saw it as enabling us to learn from each other through discussion. By the test of benefit, I here argue that social media that are funded through trade in our personal data with advertisers, including propagandists, cannot claim to be supporting free speech. We lose our freedoms, if the personal data we entrust to online social media are used to target us with information, or disinformation, tailored as persuasive to different personalities, in order to maximize revenue from advertisers or propagandists. Among the serious consequences described, particularly dangerous because of its effect on democracy, is the use of such targeted advertisements to swing voting campaigns. Control is needed both of the social media and of any political parties that pay social media for differential targeting of voters based on personality. Using UK government documents, I recommend legislation for reform and enforcement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Asquith

Background: This article examines how Canadian cannabis companies promoted their new brands after legalization in late-2018. Analysis: Nearly 4,000 items were collected from the websites and social media of 20 cannabis brands and triangulated with insight from the trade press. The promotional practices are contextualized in two areas: the history of tobacco advertising in Canada, as legal precedent for the Cannabis Act, and theories of branding.  Conclusion and implications: Brands are navigating the Cannabis Act’s promotion restrictions by embodying what it means to be a brand in the twenty-first-century media environment. This reveals an incompatibility between regulations and contemporary marketing. Contexte : Cet article examine comment les compagnies de cannabis canadiennes ont promu leurs nouvelles marques suivant la légalisation du cannabis à la fin de 2018. Analyse : Sur les sites web et les médias sociaux, on a recueilli près de 4 000 références à vingt marques de cannabis qu’on a triangulées avec des commentaires provenant de la presse spécialisée. On a contextualisé les pratiques de promotion par rapport à deux domaines : celui de l’histoire de la publicité pour le tabac au Canada comme précurseur légal de la Loi sur le cannabis, et celui des théories sur la valorisation de la marque. Conclusion et implications : Les compagnies de cannabis, tout en respectant les restrictions sur la promotion imposées par la Loi sur le cannabis, cherchent à incarner ce que cela veut dire que d’être une marque de commerce dans l’environnement médiatique du 21e siècle. Les contraintes sur les compagnies soulignent cependant une incompatibilité entre la réglementation et le marketing contemporain.


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