The “land of the free.” That’s what we’re taught to describe, depict and dream of America as. It’s the promise passed down from generation to generation, from plaque to billboard, from flag to fascist. But as a foreigner of an equally democratic country, why does such a phrase leave me with a bitter taste?
The idea of freedom of speech originates from the Greek parrhesia, meaning “free speech” or “to speak candidly.” It’s the guarantor of a free flow — the notion that what you think should be able to become what you say. In other words, it’s the linguistic embodiment of the democracy the Greeks were so famous for. However, classically, Americans like to take credit for such an invention. The First Amendment begets the right to speak freely; “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech.” Because America was seemingly the first to note it down, they’re quick to claim ownership. But in a country so wrought with irony, how can hypocrisy be so easily ignored?
What I continue to notice, time and time again, is that Americans will claim “freedom of speech” with no understanding that such a thing does exist elsewhere. America is so wrapped up in self-worship and idolatry that it fails to recognise it’s not the first in any of the things it so loudly proclaims for the world to witness. Ask most Americans, they’ll tell you their country is the best in the world. That they’re first; they’re number one. Those who aren’t so quick to quack are most likely those who’ve suffered or continue to suffer from the very things that supposedly make America so “great.” Having been taught in the U.S. at an elementary school myself, I can confirm you’re taught to parrot such statements from the very first day of class and the very first time you stand to recite the pledge of allegiance to your classroom flag.
What shocks me the most is that a good proportion of people my age don’t think that the U.K. has freedom of speech. Of course, we have freedom of speech; we just don’t have people claiming “freedom of speech.” We aren’t so wrapped up in defining our rights that we have to write them down to claim them from rooftops later. You can say what you want, but you must bear the brunt of the subsequent consequences. What “freedom of speechers” want is freedom from the consequences. They want freedom from opinion regardless of whether people get hurt.
Of course, it’s clear that all speech isn’t free. In fact, I can think of four forms off the top of my head that aren’t protected; obscene materials (e.g. child pornography/bestiality/incest), plagiarism of copyrighted material, defamation (libel and slander), and “true threat”. So, speech isn’t truly free. That which insults the threatened or the innocent, and that which insults the rich, is condemned; that which poisons the 99% is protected.
As I write this, I’m sitting in the Music Library getting more furious by the minute, and Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” isn’t helping. The very rights enshrined within a codified constitution are built to wage a war and keep a country at odds with the very brothers it claims to broker the peace between. The system is rigged. The very notion of “freedom of speech” is a war of words, and we’re all encouraged to play Mercutio. Yet, the winner isn’t the spelling bee or the studious, it’s the shouter.
Look no further than your news channel. The very sources of information you’re supposed to use are rife with opinion and subjectivities. From entirely too many hours spent scrawling through CNN, MSNBC, and even Fox News (I’m not proud), every channel seemed to have hours of floating heads spewing their personal opinion on national television. Why does this have a place in a democratic society where news is supposed to serve the people? How can the news serve the people when, as of today (02/25/2025), the White House is overhauling the Press Pool and deciding whether newscasts have access to media broadcasts simply on whether they use “Gulf of America?”
Most respectable and mainstream U.K. news channels would have a heart attack if someone were to suggest asking someone their opinion on a topic they’re speaking on. They’re there to present fact, not fiction. They’re not celebrities, nor spokespeople; they’re the vehicle the story is speaking through. Thus, it’s up to the viewer to form an opinion, and any they manifest is theirs to bear the weight of — theirs to war for.
“Cancel culture” is America starting to grapple with what real freedom of speech looks like in a democratic society. Of course, you can say what you want to, but you must face the music. You’re entitled to your own opinion, but so is everyone else. Your freedom of speech is my freedom of speech. This is the crux of American irony. The country posits itself as the most free, as the place of dreams. But especially in recent weeks, it has descended into censorship. You’re being funneled into what to think, what to say and what to do by people who don’t care for the consequences. Freedom is simply a mirage.
But what one must remember is that this “freedom of speech” people metaphorically plaster on the front of caps at rallies isn’t enshrined. They’re wrong. Your beloved constitution protects the people from government institutions that attempt to abridge your right to free speech (side note: it’s not at the moment). Not another person with a differing view. It doesn’t protect you from consequence. But what I continuously see is that people believe it does. That’s what’s so scary; people don’t fight back.
A debate for another time is whether “freedom of speech” is really just a coverall for “hate speech.” Should anything spouted by someone really cost our university $600,000 just to protect their right to say it? I’d argue not.
I hope this article doesn’t come across as a hit piece on Americans, but instead on the very institutions you might claim make your country great. America isn’t the dream. It’s just another country. The principles on which America rests aren’t revolutionary, radical or perhaps even real; they’re just another version of rules and regulations most nations are built on. To believe America is free is to believe in a fantasy, but it’s one I don’t blame anybody for fantasizing over. The fantasy, after all, is what keeps America alive.