Should people be punished for speaking their mind?

Answer 1

In a world and a time where injustice runs freely like the blood shed by the victims of negligence and abuse; where greed spreads like an uncontrollable plague, where war and disaster are on the door steps of the majority of people in the world, it may seem like all the advocates for good have gone silent. But there is still a voice. Though at times, it may be small or faint, from an over-worked under-paid widow, grown weary with the burden of taking care of her five children by herself. Or from her youngest daughters, rummaging in the trash of landfills to find their supper. To millions of people in Haiti and Brazil, suffering from natural disasters, mostly just morally supported by celebrities and politicians, but most still left in make shift tents with no clean water or medical attention.

Are there still people who care for others? who do their best to provide for the needy and take care of the widows and orphans, disaster victims and victims of war? Of course there are still such people. But there is still too much crime being done to humanity, to animals both tame and free, and to the earth that has been given to us all as a gift.

That is why the two most important freedoms a human being can have is freedom to make his or her own choices, and the right to speak his or her own mind. You simply cannot have one without the other. You must have the freedom of speech in order to organize and vocalize your freedom of choice, and in using your freedom to act, you exercise the words and ideas you have expressed. Without the right to act, speech is only a string of words, and what use is it to say anything you wish without being able to act on what you say?

Some of the firsts leaders of the United States of America recognized the importance of this right while they wrote the US Constitution, the most significant principles of their state. They believed that these very principles which where set into place were not simply important, but crucial to true freedom. This is why the founders of the United States set freedom of speech as the First Amendment, because it was the most important of all.

"I want freedom for the full expression of my personality."

-Mahatma Gandhi

"The man who speaks the truth is always at ease."

- Persian proverb

"I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows. We are poor..but we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die...we die defending our rights."

-Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota

"Our fathers gave us many laws which they had learned from their fathers. They told us to treat all men as they treated us. That we should never be the first to break a bargain. That it was a disgrace to tell a lie. That we should speak only the truth. We were taught to believe that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything and that he never forgets. This I believe and all my people believe the same."

-Chief Joseph, Nez Perce, "Thunder Rolling in the Mountains"

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

-Jesus Christ

Answer 2

No, people should not be punished for speaking their mind, as freedom of speech is a fundamental human right. However, there may be consequences for the content of what is said, such as backlash or disagreements from others.