Absolute Freedom & Respect Conflicts - Dutch Tradition to Remember the Victims of Freedom
Today at exactly 20:00 hrs Dutch time our nation is silence for 2 minutes. The whole country comes to a stop, even most drivers will park their cars, vans and trucks to participate in this silence. This 2 minute silence is to remember all the military and civilian victims who gave their lives for our freedom. In 1946, directly after the second world war ended, this tradition started.
Two weeks ago I was shocked when hearing the news: Someone launched a campaign to go against this tradition and asked people to counter the 2 minute silence with 2 minutes of loud noise. He asked people to come to the Dam square, right in the middle of Amsterdam, where one of the official remembrance ceremonies will be held.
The argument: the soldiers who gave their lives in the war the Dutch fought in Indonesia are also remembered while this war is seen by some as a wrong war where the Dutch where the perpetrators and the Indonesian people the victims.
Yes, we do have the law of Freedom of Speech.
But, is Freedom of Speech absolute? Does Freedom of Speech mean we shall just forget about being respectful to others? What about the Freedom to Respect?
Fortunately, the judge decided the actions this guy was planning, is not allowed.
The argument: it may disturb the crowd of 10s of thousands of people who will be at the Dam square, to much. This can lead to dangerous situations.
I personally would have liked to see the judge would have used an argument with respect as the key reason why this guy and his followers are not allowed to disturb the 2 minute silence.
Unfortunately, we don't have a law about being respectful to others.
video: 'Taptoe' the most popular composition played just before the 2 minute of rememberance (source)
I strongly agree that 1) humanity is not very respectful these days, 2) that respectfulness is very important, and 3) that we should strive to do better.
But I also think that that improvement must not come at the cost of "freedom of speech", free speech is one of the key tenets that makes a place "good", and worth defending. So we need to be very careful about diminishing the rights of idiots to speech, even when they are idiots, because that freedom is core to ensuring that our homes (my is Canada), remain worth defending in the first place.
The way I think we need to defend and foster respectfulness is by being better teachers and parents, myself included. We need to lead our youth (I have two daughters) to a place where they understand the importance of respectfulness and also using their voice wisely.
In a sense, I am saying, we need to respect free speech, in that we dont waste our freedom by tearing down people, and traditions needlessly, which is what one does, if they shout idioticly while others gather in silence to remember lost lives and sacrifice.
Tough issue and it deserves deep consideration from both angles, thanks for sharing.
This is certainly a very tough topic, reason for me to write the article. On one hand I don't like to limit freedom of speech by law. I very much agree with you we all must do better to spread the words of 'be respectful' around us. While I do think we can indeed do better, I also think there will always be people who don't care at all, who provoke in disrespectful ways.
It becomes an even more difficult topic, since what one thinks is disrespectful, others may think it is humour and entertainment; for instance, cracking a joke about some religion, head of state and so on. I think jokes are allowed to be made about anybody and anything, but also here is a fine line between what is respectful and what is not. The what, when, where is always very important to have in mind and can never be defined in an objective way.
The fact that you realize that this cannot be objectively determined is exactly why there should be no law suppressing their protest. If you make laws based on offense, you'll quickly find your freedom to speak dramatically curtailed. If there's an opinion out in the world, you can bet someone takes offense to it. Best to let social norms handle this rather than the law.
As you write, I understand the difficulties defining what is ok and what is not ok wrt what/when/where someone says something. The action making loud noise, can happen anytime imho, but out of respect, don't do it during the 2 minute of silence. And yes, I do know it probably cannot be defined in law. However, maybe we shall look for new law systems. I'm not sure how that should look like, but I would like to see respect and fair being a dominant part of such system. What is you solution for all of us to be more respectful?
Social shaming is probably the best you can do here. The state should never be used to punish speech unless it represents a clear and present danger to someone's life and / or property. That way there is a modicum of objectivity to the law.
I agree social shaming maybe the best way indeed.
The judge has erred.
The basis of their protest is that they in fact DO NOT respect the action s of the government and of the soldiers in Indonesia. The point of freedom of speech, is so that you may speak against opinions or situations that you find abhorrent.
The judge is forcing one group to respect the actions of another group celebrating something they find evil, and to be forced to respect that with silence is suppression of thought.
You don't need freedom of speech to protect opinions everyone agrees with. You need it to protect the ones who disagree.
This is not freedom of speech in the least.
They Judge did not make any statement and/or judgement wrt freedom of speech. The judge decided based on public safety.
My mistake. If the judge was able to determine there was a clear and present threat then maybe he's correct. Outside of that, I wouldn't suppress their protest.
Cool :)
Agree. That is the most politically manipulated statement right now "Freedom of speech". If you would say something they d say you are not allowed but they are. Respect for your soldiers sir.
Indeed, Freedom of Speech is misused many time and seems to forget about what a community (on small or large scale) makes a community.
absolutely, It seems like we are forgetting the old norms of respect of community. i wish there was a "respect" button on steemit. And by the way thank you for upvoting my comment mr @edje. you gave me more reward than this poor minnow could give to your post.
Your welcome :) And indeed, a respect button at Steemit would be great! You could write this suggestion through Utopian.
Great much
Ok thanks I suppose.