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That's not true. At least not for the common definitions of "freedom of speech".
by chki 7y ago
That's not true. At least not for the common definitions of "freedom of speech".
- zmzrr 7y agoThere are blasphemy laws for instance. Right to be forgotten. Etc.
- chki 7y agoWhich means that freedom of speech is (in some cases) limited because of the religious freedom of others. It doesn't mean that freedom of speech doesn't exist, it means that the "balancing exercise" between certain Rights is performed differently. Edit: There is no state in the world where there exists some sort of "absolute freedom of speech".
- slynn12 7y agoAgreed ^. The classic example of screaming fire in a movie theater...
- swebs 7y agoI'm not familiar with French law. Can you point to us where it explicitly grants freedom of speech?
- chki 7y agoI'm also not familiar with French law but this https://www.loc.gov/law/help/freedom-expression/france.php https://www.loc.gov/law/help/freedom-expression/france.php seems to be a good resource. One thing I am familiar with is the European Convention on Human Rights which grants Freedom of speech in Article 10 and which is binding in France.
- dgellow 7y agoThe "freedom of speech" discussed here is a legal concept, known as the 1st amendment of the US constitution. The common definition isn't really relevant. And it's true that France doesn't actually have such a thing guaranteed by the law. The closest you have is "liberté d'expression" which isn't as broad as "freedom of speech" in the US sense, and doesn't guarantee the same level of freedom.
- chki 7y agoIt's not clear to me why "actual freedom of speech" should be equal to what is guaranteed by the US constitution. That would be like me saying "The US doesn't have the 'Right to Life'" because I'm exclusively applying the European definition of that term. Freedom of expression/freedom of speech is guaranteed in some way in all Western nations, the difference – as you correctly point out – is the degree to which other rights are also taken into account when applying the Right to freedom of speech. But that's an extremely important distinction and it cannot be said that France doesn't have Freedom of speech.