Freedom of expression or social responsibility?

Singer believes that freedom of expression is essential to any democracy and therefore should not be limited. On the other hand, Szilagyi believes that more focus should be placed on social responsibility. In the context of Singapore’s multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, which author’s view do you think should be adopted?

I think that in Singapore, a balance should be stroke between social responsibility and the freedom of expression. This is due to the fact that Singapore is a democratic country as well as a multiracial country, where there is cultural and religious pluralism.

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.” This should be the freedom of expression which is enjoyed by everyone in the world. No government should have the authority to restrict what its citizens are going to say. Should a government restrict what its citizens are going to say, it only shows that the views expressed cannot be refuted by evidence and argument alone and that the views expressed are true.

However, in the case of racist remarks, they should not be tolerated. This is where the social responsibility comes in. This is especially for Singapore as well as other multiracial countries as any racial remark could lead to impending racial riots. A racial riot could have a worldwide effect as well, where a remark by anyone could lead to disastrous result worldwide. A racist remark on any religions could have led to the buildup of discontentment against the religion of the person who made the remark. This could eventually lead to clashes between people of the two religions in other parts of the world as well as in the country where the racist remark came from.

Hence, social responsibility should be coupled with freedom of expression in a country like Singapore. Freedom of expression should be something enjoyed by everyone and anyone but people should exercise social responsibility as a lack of social responsibility could lead to disastrous consequences.