Free Speech to Become a Distant Memory?

Today I read an excellent article on freedom of speech, found here. It seems the UN's core values are being twisted to fit the whims of the religious; not unsurprising, but highly depressing. It's gotten me all riled up this morning. It is things like this that make me so annoyed when I see people taking free speech for granted. The fact is we are slowly losing our ability to challenge religious ideas in an age where that is exactly what is needed. It's always important to remind people how lucky they are in the west, to be able to criticise at will. Unfortunately it's not so simple in other parts of the world. 

I urge everyone to help this process. Whenever you hear someone told to back down on something simply because someone else is 'offended', ask them if we live in a society of free speech and then mention some of the abhorrent practices in the Middle East. The golden rule for a free society should be that any idea is fair game. Anyone should be able to say absolutely anything they want as long as it isn't slanderous or plain abuse, irrelevant of anyone's belief or religion. I once thought this was set in stone, but unfortunately we live in a world that is eroding these values to the point where some of us don't even realise what free speech means. It is an insidious process, brought about by the 'pc' lobby.

Even here in the UK we see free speech thrown out of the window for convenience. My mind goes back to the 'no platform' policy of the NUS for example. Are we so scared by extremists that we can't debate them. Are we scared they might win? If we are so sure our views are right, why can we not show them to be so in an open and honest manor? Unfortunately these extremists can them use these curbing’s of freedom in their own twisted exercises to create a stranglehold on society. Are they so unsecure with their religious views that they can't hear an open debate on them?

I urge a read of the article, it covers much more than I have time to drone on about.