Threat to Democratic Rights

Threat to democratic rights
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Institution
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Course
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Democratic rights
The freedom of speech can undergo various limitations increasing the threat of
diminishing the fundamental rights. For instance, the freedom of speech may not be highly
followed and applicable in matters involving emergency situations. Some governmental legal
systems impose various limitations on the right. In the political era, the right to speech of a
particular politician or contestants of leadership position can be restricted if and only if the
person utters derogatory words meant to be hate speech and incitement of the crowd against the
government.1 The person can be taken through a court of law and charged as a criminal offense
due to such careless utterances. However, some leaders and politician of the highest government
ranking threaten the speech of an individual due to ownership of high positional or leadership
power when they do not want their evil deeds to be unmasked to the public. This is a result of
wrong use of the offices and abuse of power hence limiting the freedom of speech of other
fellow politicians whom they see as a threat.
In the modern world, people mostly use the social media platforms, for example, Twitter,
Facebook, and website to express their mind, knowledge, and ideas. Unfortunately, some
individuals misuse the social media by posting unnecessary views and materials for example
pornography, abusive language in a bid to express their angry remarks which makes the
government regulate the situation. People engage in an online war of words which is against the
law. Various policies and restrictive measures have been and enacted and undertaken in order to
avoid such a situation. This ends up restricting the freedom of speech of genuine individuals.
1 Burke, Roland. Decolonization and the evolution of international human rights. University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
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Cybercrime, which has increased rampantly pose a threat to the freedom of speech. Both
children and adults are victims of cyber-crime limiting them from expressing their ideas and
knowledge through the websites and social media.
Freedom of speech fundamental to democracy as the norms which are is threat means that public
debate may not be entirely suppressed even in emergency situations.
Legal systems sometimes ensure certain limitations on the freedom specifically when it
conflicts with other UN recognized rights and freedom. These limits may either occur through
legal sanction or social disapprobation. Over a given period, several public institutions pose a
threat of freedom of speech by constructing policies that restrict the speech, for example,
enacting speech codes at schools.2
The right to due process
This refers to the legal requirement that a country or individual must respect all
prevailing rights of an all people. Basically, due process protects a person from the law of the
land. However, some issues threaten to harm this right of due process. When a government
harms an individual without evaluating the correct course of action of the law, it constitutes a
threat of due process violation which makes the rule of law to be highly offended. It can also be
interpreted as limiting laws and legal proceedings in order for the existing legislators to
2 Heraclides, Alexis. The self-determination of minorities in international politics. Routledge,
2012.
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determine fairness and justice, however, over a particular period the interpretation has increased
to prove itself in a very controversial manner. When judges offer the wrong verdict and jail an
innocent person, the due process is threatened. Also when legislators accept bribes during
hearing a certain case in order to favor one party, the judge is violating the person's right to due
process.
Freedom of thought. This right can be discouraged or limited through the use of censorship,
arrests of persons, and the use of propaganda. There are campaigns that tend to be against the
freedom of thought, for example, the book burning campaigns in Germany. There also exist
insignificant radical anti-intellectualism put into practice in some nations such as Cambodia.
Freedom of thought can also be threatened by the limitation on the use of words of a language
and the expression of original ideas.3
Freedom of religion
The freedom of religion indicates that an individual can change from one religion to
another and has the fundamental right to attend any of the worship places according to his or her
own choice and preferences. The government of various states in the world has laws and
constitutional reforms that protect6 individuals from any forms of restrictions that would
otherwise make it difficult for an individual to enjoy the right to worship. People are of various
religious beliefs, for example, Islamic, Hinduism, Christianity and traditional shrines of worship.
3 Byrd, B. Sharon, and Joachim Hruschka. "Kant's Doctrine of Right: a commentary." (2010).
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