June blog task.

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?

Write a response of at least 300 words and 2 content paragraphs, and include materials from both articles as well as your own knowledge and experience.




In Singapore's multi-racial society, where there is culture and religious pluralism. It is important that there is maintenance of racial and religious harmony. A disparity or conflict within the races would be chaotic and result in many undesirable consequences. Thus it is important that Szilagyi view on freedom of speech be adopted.

Szilagyi believes that more focus should be placed on social responsibility. He sees the need of freedom of expression, but believes that in order to protect the collective interests of society, there must be social responsibility. He also believes that in present times, it is difficult to strike a balance between individual and collective press freedom. Also as the society changes and the world evolve, so would the limits of the freedom of speech. However, the press still has to serve public interest and be responsible.

This is a more conservative and common stand to adopt; to allow freedom to a certain limit. However this is still a relevant and usefully method. It allows for the control of what reaches the people, helping to regulated what the people reads or hears. This is important in maintaining the delicate balance in Singapore. It is important that there is a limit to the freedom of speech, as free speech can invoke unhappiness into the hearts of the unintended listeners, or people who simply do not wish to hear such words. Unhappiness can often result in anger and a need for revenge. Often, this comes into the form of conflict. Conflict in itself has many forms; a serious matter would result in armed or physical conflict, which includes riots and fights. Another result of such unhappiness stirring in the heats of the people is distrust. In a nation such as Singapore, having conflict or distrust would be detrimental because of the small size of the country, and the importance of people as the main resource in the country.

However, Singer's view cannot totally be ignored. Singer believes that freedom of expression is essential to any democracy and therefore should not be limited. He believes that people have the right to air their views, and that they should not be condemned for their views. Instead they should be confronted with evidence. He feels that if people are imprisoned for expressing views, they would feel that this is so because they cannot be refuted by evidence and argument. To him, this method can be used as a temporary emergency measure to stop propaganda, but when there is no longer any treat, freedom of expression should be allowed to exist. Without this freedom, human progress would come to a standstill.

Singer's view comes as an insight as it is a less common view in such a topic. Undoubtedly, his views seem possible and workable in the society. It also makes sense as education is the key in changing the mindsets of the people. Blocking them by law or limitations, does not mean that they would not have views of their own, neither would it keep these views out of small talks between people. As such, only when face by true evidence would they accept and change they view. However, this view should be held to a more open society, where people show are more acceptance to others views and would willingly oppose each other to defend their stand in a polite and unaggressive manner. If not the, such different views would be able to spread faster like wildfire and raise disharmony between the people. Thus, this is not a sure work method, and do have its limitations. Furthermore, if it fails, the results would be disastrous.

Therefore, due to the multi-racial and multi-religious type of country that Singapore is, it is safer to adopt a more conservative stand on this issue. Thus it is important to focus on social responsibility. To put in place a social responsibility is to put in place protect for the people and for the country.





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