Do BRITS Believe in FREE SPEECH? | Easy English 161

Thank you to our sponsor italki! Get $10 in italki credits after taking your first 1-on-1 lesson when you sign up here: go.italki.com/easyenglish
BECOME A MEMBER OF EASY ENGLISH: www.easyenglish.video/membership
LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST: www.easyenglish.fm/
SUBSCRIBE TO EASY ENGLISH: bit.ly/EasyEnglishSub
INSTAGRAM: / easyenglishvideos
FACEBOOK: / officialeasyenglish
---
ALL SUPER EASY ENGLISH EPISODES: bit.ly/SuperEasyEnglishPlaylist
ALL EASY ENGLISH STREET INTERVIEWS: bit.ly/EasyEnglishPlaylist
---
Easy Languages is an international video project aiming at supporting people worldwide to learn languages through authentic street interviews and expose the street culture of participating partner countries abroad. Episodes are produced in local languages and contain subtitles in both the original language as well as in English.
WEBSITE: www.easy-languages.org/
SUBSCRIBE TO EASY LANGUAGES: bit.ly/elsub
FACEBOOK: / easylanguagesstreetint...
BECOME A CO-PRODUCER: bit.ly/2kyB9nM
---
Producers of this episode: Mitchell Hargreaves, Isabell Hargreaves-Schmid
#learnenglish #easyenglish #easylanguages

[@islamadam8502]

That's a very interesting episode 👍👏 I think freedom of speech has some of the paradoxical side of freedom in general: How can a society be free and organised in the same time? The idea is that freedom is having less regulations while organisation is having more of them. If I understand things correctly the early supporters of freedom of speech (like John Stuart Mill) said that EVERY opinion should be heard no matter how strange or hideous it is, and that thoughts shouldn't be censored at all. I compare this to the current situation in which a ton of "anti-", "-phobic" and "-philic" accusations should be considered before one opens his mouth and I find that it doesn't match what those early supporters of freedom of speech meant. Practically speaking I think that nowhere people are totally free to speak in public about they truly think and believe, let alone promoting such thoughts and beliefs. It only varies in quantity and quality from one place to another, but every place has its own taboos. In my country Egypt we have no freedom of speech, to the degree that we can't publicly express some Islamic religious thoughts which are considered to be "terroristic" by the government, yet there are topics which people are more free to speak about than in Europe, I won't say what they are so that youtube doesn't delete my comment (so much for freedom of speech isn't it? 😂)

[@vitob.]

Lovely topic!!! The people are nice and have reason.

[@EasyEnglishVideos]

🙌

[@jaskatpon1]

Excellent topic Mitch! 👍🏾 where’s Isi? Would love to hear her German views on free speech.

[@EasyEnglishVideos]

I think Janusz is interested in making this topic for Easy German

[@krunoslavkovacec1842]

Freedom of speech also implies standing b your words. Never forget that...

[@elephantcastle5110]

Good to see there's a strong support for freedom of speech in England and particularly in Brighton, even if people may feel torn about the nuances and difficult questions. I'd be curious about the answers if Easy German repeated this in Berlin.

[@EasyEnglishVideos]

I’d also be interested to hear about it from Germany and other nations

[@EasyEnglishVideos]

I’d also be interested to hear about it from Germany and other nations 🙌

[@MiraFRiyanti]

05:48 I just realized, JOHN LENNON?!

[@TheMKEWERBY]

I think you have a much better handle on it over there than we have here in the states where it tends to be horribly abused.

[@EasyEnglishVideos]

Are there more government restrictions? Or do you mean there’s not enough control?

[@TheMKEWERBY]

@@EasyEnglishVideos Not Enough Control, probably.

[@paulbromley6687]

I would cancel anything that patronises me by removing a section of a movie that has decided That I can’t be trusted to decide what I am seeing to be either good bad or nothing.

[@floratsakona3724]

Awesome video! I think that freedom of speech is part and parcel of every democratic society. Everybody should have the right to voice their opinion as long as they are respectful to the others. However, nowadays people sometimes spread hate speech or share some controversial opinions in the name of freedom of speech . What's more, the anonymity that social platforms offer has played an essential role to this and the consequences in some cases are dire. So, it is wonderful to exchange ideas and opinions but we should never offend someone. In my country I think that people generally can express themselves without fear of being censored. However, there's definitely room for improvement because some people can be very judgemental and you wouldn't feel comfortable sharing your opinions. Have a good one! ❤

[@AngelineHargreaves]

Yes to freedom of speech ! No hate speech or ensighting violence !

[@Hadrianus01]

Ensighting ?!!! 🤪🤪🤪

[@alework3572]

With hate speech, you mean something you don't agree with

[@maclaycampbell2042]

That's the comment I was looking for! Freedom of speech is different from disturbing the peace or fighting words.

[@Hadrianus01]

Opposing views now allowed!!!!

[@jaskatpon1]

Ensighting or inciting? 😀

[@klimtkahlo]

Where was the accent of the man with the round sun glasses? Was he Scottish? He said tings instead of things. Nice accent!

[@EasyEnglishVideos]

I also loved his accent, he's Irish. 🇮🇪

[@klimtkahlo]

@@EasyEnglishVideos I was very off! 😊 Thanks for letting me know! Love your accent too! And all the other British people sounded all so posh and proper!

[@EnglishFemale]

I keep getting warnings on KZbin about comments I've written, I'm not a nasty person & If I swear I write words like "tw_t" or f off , I never bully or anything, I'm confused , I think it maybe when Just Stop Oil posts appear and they are being dragged off roads & I write comments supporting the public.

[@hanalee2041]

There are few words that i can not find the meaning : Bubble-wrap nuances context : I think people nowadays are not very good with nuances and are very self-rightous about their opinion these days

[@EasyEnglishVideos]

We offer explanations to all vocabulary we use in our video membership - easyenglish.video/membership 😜

[@paulbromley6687]

Before I see the movie with cuts I want to have a right to reject it and not waste my time seeing a censored version.

[@JamesLintonwriter]

Like many of the people here say, I think freedom of speech is a highly nuanced topic. And a lot of this nuance gets lost in translation. People should be allowed to say what they want to say, but they should also be prepared and allow to defend their views. If you say something that you know is provocative, offensive or upsetting, then you shouldn't be surprised if people call you out on it, regardless if you're on the left or the right. There is definitely a degree of personal responsibility. And then this becomes even more nuanced as the Overton window of what is offensive or upsetting is constantly removing. Conversely, you could argue that there also comes a personal responsibility in taking offense to what people say. Is what they say offensive or are you projecting your own insecurities onto these people? You can't control what people say, but you can control your reaction to it. There are lots of comedians that I don't find very funny or I find offensive, but I simply choose to not watch their comedy. I have a fairly multicultural group of friends and we do share a sense of humour that could definitely be perceived as offensive to people who don't know us. We make plenty of jokes about our respective races and ethnicities. But that doesn't mean we're going to do it to random people on the street. And I think that's where personal responsibility comes into play. I also don't think older art or media or films should be edited or censored for modern sensitivities. You should let people see these things for themselves and make up their own minds. And, honestly, I find stuff like that very condescending. Some person I don't even know just automatically assumes I'm too fragile or weak to even be offended by myself. They have to get offended on my behalf. I find this is very much the case with the racial/identity politics nowadays. But I think compared to many other countries like China or North Korea, the UK has a very good system of freedom of speech, freedom of the press. In China and NK, the internet there is so heavily censored, it's ridiculous.

[@EasyEnglishVideos]

This is a great comment, very nicely put, James 🙌

[@AngelineHargreaves]

Community service for hate speech or ensighting violence against others , perhaps service for the harmed ?

[@EasyEnglishVideos]

Sounds about fair 🙌

[@jaskatpon1]

But who gets to decide the punishment? There’ll be always an ebb and flow of freedom of speech boundaries in a society every passing generation. It’s really hard for rules to keep up with the changes over time.

[@Hadrianus01]

Next episode...what is a woman?

[@holz6661]

Young people are getting more and more totalitarian. Why is that?

[@JonB83]

I think the septum rings do something to their brains.

[@JonB83]

It is better to allow people to say naughty words than have people locked up for saying things.

[@paulbromley6687]

Stop patronising me….