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Should democracy, as a whole, place limits on basic human rights and freedoms? This one sentence is complicated for so many reasons. First of all, human rights are directly related to freedoms in an interesting way. Freedoms can be taken to excess, but human rights, when taken to excess, conflict with freedoms. Freedom to hate, at an extreme, infringes on the human right, at an extreme, to exist in a world free of bigotry. This is why democracy MUST place limits on basic rights and freedoms, but at the same time, democracy must relax its policies to create a more even and fair society.
Freedom of speech is one of things most mal managed in democracy today. There is a common saying that my freedom of speech ends at the tip of your nose. In essence, this is saying that you should be able to say whatever you want, as long as nothing happens, via your actions, physically to anyone or anything. Freedom can be taken to the ultimate level, where any one person is allowed to say whatever he / she wants, as long as he / she is not physically attacking anyone in a direct or indirect manner. The existing hate laws need to be modified to suit this agenda.
The hate laws should not be repealed, however they shouldnt be able to become tools for minorities to prevent others from expressing opinions. Democracy was correct in the way it dealt with Richard Keegstra, an Alberta teacher preaching the absence of a holocaust in Europe during the World War Two years. People who are in positions of trust, teachers for example, should NOT be allowed freedom of speech. If one teaches or preaches only one side of an issue, one is not being tolerant of the views of others. If someone was so sure in their beliefs and could back them up in open debate, they would come out the victors. However, people who are wrong, and can be proven wrong should be allowed to enter into public debate and be proven wrong.
Only this way can the REAL truth be exposed. This is why people, teachers especially, should teach both sides of the story and let the pupils decide which is side is correct for them. The limits and relaxations of democracy are necessary to achieve a more harmonious lifestyle. Freedom of religion is the basis for belief and value systems in the world.
Religion is also a scourge. It is a scourge because it requires a follower to join a creed, without any evidence. Once again however, one should be able to decide which religion is best for one, that is as long as it does not infringe upon the rights or freedoms of other people. The Taliban for example views Westerners as infidels. The Taliban believes that Westerners should be eliminated and the events at the World Trade Centre prove that they are willing followers of their hard-line religious beliefs.
This is wrong, in every sense of the word. The Taliban should be allowed to BELIEVE anything that they want, until it has a physical impact on another. Religion is a very valuable asset if it gives a set of values to live by. This is perhaps why it has been adopted into a separate school system, that being the catholic system.
They preach good values and sound judgment. Something that is fair, and many non-Catholics participate in this system simply for the values not found in public schools. Religion itself is false. It relies on faith and without faith it is nothing.
If people decided that religion was not necessary some of the most violent and major wars in the world would not have been fought. Thus a major argument in favor of modifications to the existing laws on freedom of religion in regards to human rights and freedoms. To conclude, as a society and a democracy, countries should make radical adjustments to their human rights policies. Perhaps even the United Nations should take a much closer look at the International Declaration Of Human Rights. As well as Canadians that got severely mal treated in regards to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which was conveniently thrown in to the War Measures Act by Pierre Elliot Trudeau. Our systems need a major overhaul in this regard, and not just with freedom of speech and religion, but freedom of life, liberty, invention, the pressed.
All these freedoms in democracy have direct impacts on citizens, and it is time those citizens woke up, and took a long hard look at what can be done to improve their way of life.
Free research essays on topics related to: human rights, freedom of religion, rights and freedoms, proven wrong, freedom of speech
Research essay sample on Freedom Of Speech Rights And Freedoms
