What's The Point of Free Speech If Silence Is Safer?

Being without the freedom to express yourself is as good as being stripped of the right to live. What kind of life are you even living if you can never say what's on your mind or what you believe in. 

What kind of life is it if you have to constantly watch innocent people being subjected to injustice and never say a word powerful enough to defend them. And what if you are forced to endure that injustice as well?

Yet again, you must remain quiet and let it happen. Because without the power of speech, you have also lost the power to stand up for yourself and others.

Over the course of months, there have been several incidents that have sparked controversies and several more that have opened a debate regarding free speech. 

We have seen the repercussions of stating an opinion that people don't agree with. It's met with condemnation and violence. Families are affected, jobs are lost, and in the entire process, we begin to grasp the reality of freely expressing yourself. 

It is safer to remain quiet. 

The movement that granted us the freedom of speech began long ago, but it seems the future is bleak when it comes to what is actually allowed to be said. 

Now, every time any of us post our random thoughts on social media, we must expect to be persecuted by those who don't agree with our sentiments.

Negative feedback for anything and in any form will make you liable for harassment. You are not putting up a post on social media or expressing your thoughts. You will be seen as someone endangering the sentiments of hundreds of people who may come across it. And most people don't like it when their feelings get hurt.

So what is the future of speech? Will we be allowed to express our thoughts? Will we have the courage to go out in the open and state them without fearing an attack or losing our careers over it?

Or will we have to find ways to protect ourselves by hiding behind anonymity and putting up several disclaimers before we post a two liner that is supposedly an opinion on a particular incident. Neutrally written, of course.

Because now there is a price for the freedom of speech. And how many of us are willing to pay it?