The way a society treats its dissidents speaks volumes about how genuinely free that society is. Freedom of speech has always been a hot debate ever since humankind started to use their rationale. In ancient cultures, people were executed just because they had contradictory views with the states.
Free Speech in the Modern World
In the modern world, the relevance and importance of free speech are even more critical because there is great diversity. People belonging to diverse groups are living in the same cities. Therefore, it is important to generate discourse among them to achieve tolerance in society.
Freedom of Speech and the Internet
Unfortunately, the discourse of free speech on the internet is really confused. Both the proponents and opponents fail to understand that hate speech and free speech are two separate things. Freedom of expression doesn’t necessarily have to be hateful.
Due to this confusion, people start opposing the whole idea of freedom of expression and, as a result, a healthy discourse that could lead to the evolution of society stops.
How to Use the Power of the Internet for Freedom of Expression?
This confusion is a severe concern for those who actually want to bring a change in society by highlighting the pressing issues. When the mere idea of freedom of expression is stigmatized, and people preconceive the notion as hate speech, it becomes challenging to light the ray of light in the darkness.
Therefore, the question of what one should do to express their thoughts becomes more serious. Fortunately enough, the internet is the most powerful tool to do so. It provides a vast audience, and you can spread your message to the entire world.
However, the only con of the internet is that it can be a source of great bullying. As soon as you start expressing yourself, people with contradictory beliefs start a keyboard fight against you. Luckily, there are platforms like Doe that offer complete anonymity and still let you write whatever you want. Using such platforms is a great idea if you want to spread your message, express your thoughts, or tell the world your story with being bullied or harassed by the internet trolls.