In my North American Studies class, our professor asked us students to make a reflection paper about the relevance of freedom of speech to the virtual world. I would like to share you my reflection paper for you to be aware of what is freedom in the virtual world.

When we talk with one another, we say words we want the others to hear but most of the time we hide words that needs to be heard. Why is that? I think it is because we are afraid of what the others might think of our say. We are scared that their criticisms might violate our freedom of speech and so we escape reality to enter the virtual world and pour our minds’ content there because we know that in the virtual world, we are free and unstoppable.

As Thomas Jefferson (1776) stated in his Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. We have rights naturally given to us by God and with these rights; it is men’s duty to use them wisely. If they are not happy with what is happening around them then it is their own rights to voice out their opinion. In relation to the virtual world, we are free to say what we have in mind because persuasion is not as difficult as it could be in person because all we need are meaningful and powerful words; no need to confront the people who go against our opinions. Another reason is that there are users in the internet who have the same opinion as ours and so we are not alone. Lastly, there is no physical discrimination because in the internet we are all equal.

In order to understand the advance world today, we have to be vocal of our thoughts. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1941) in his speech to the members of the Congress gave us one point on pursuing our goal and that is freedom of speech. He did not exactly state it but I know that what he meant by it is we have to speak up to satisfy ourselves and that is one of internet’s goals. In the Constitution of the United States (Bill of Rights, Amendment 1), freedom to speak up is highly recommended because it promotes the development of the person. We understand the world better even if we are just sitting in front of the computer; we get to experience the world in just one click and our knowledge advances too because of the internet. That is why freedom of speech is very relevant to the virtual world. It allows us to know information or ideas that we cannot reach within our grasp.

Despite the pros of being liberated in the virtual world, there will always be a con. There is nothing wrong with freedom of speech in the virtual world but what made it look wrong is the abusive use of the word freedom. We are very liberated that we forget the limitations. We want people to hear our opinion but we do not think if it is said in a right way or time. All we care is our voices to be heard. We do not care if the content is explicitly dangerous or agonizing as long as we show our opinion to the world. The reason why Twitter has a 140 characters limitation is to remind us that it is okay to tell the world what is in our mind but we have to keep in mind that our status do not violate human dignity. Having limitations do not violate the law of freedom of speech; rather it protects freedom of speech from abuse.

The virtual world is a world of information and when I mean by information, these are ideas that will help us develop our growth as a human. Communication is important but we need to communicate with human beings to be human. Freedom of speech should not only be limited to the virtual world; in fact, the virtual world is merely just a short cut to the other side of the world. There is so much to learn if we turn our computers off and experience the world personally.

Labels: advice, Franklin D. Roosevelt, freedom, quote, school, story, Thomas Jefferson, thoughts

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