Full video

0:00

it's the classic saying those who forget

0:02

history are doomed to repeat it so it's

0:04

a really like lame excuse for some

0:05

people to just be horrible how can you

0:07

teach a dog to a Nazi salute people

0:09

should not people were up no we bubble

0:11

wrapped enough

0:12

I think that people are not very good

0:14

with nuance and a very self-righteous

0:18

about their opinions these days more

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than they used to be it's probably very

0:21

important for our lives to take into

0:24

account context and not to have blanket

0:26

rules as long as those guys don't still

0:29

like stand by all those views and stuff

0:31

like everyone's constantly obviously

0:32

learning and growing sometimes making

0:34

fun of offensive things makes it easier

0:37

to deal with

0:45

welcome to a new episode of easy English

0:49

so today we wanted to tackle the

0:50

philosophical idea of freedom of speech

0:53

we wanted to know the people of Brighton

0:55

feel that you should be able to express

0:57

yourself in any way and also if they

0:59

think that the UK is a place that allows

1:01

freedom of speech before we get started

1:04

if you're a fan of easy English then why

1:06

don't you quickly subscribe below let's

1:08

get started with this week's episode

1:09

here we go do you believe in freedom of

1:13

speech I think in essence yes I do in

1:16

its Essence yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you

1:20

think you can just say whatever you like

1:22

yeah without any restriction

1:24

sort of like not yeah I mean there's not

1:28

100 but generally yeah do you both

1:32

believe in the idea of freedom of spirit

1:35

absolutely I do too I mean it's

1:37

fundamental yes

1:39

okay

1:42

uh I would like to but I feel like

1:44

people are so opinionated do you believe

1:47

you should be free to express yourself

1:48

whatever you say I think so yeah I think

1:51

you're entitled to like whatever you

1:53

want to say I think there's just certain

1:54

situations where maybe what you believe

1:57

in whether right or wrong might not be

2:00

the best thing to say necessarily and

2:02

and how about you would you I was gonna

2:04

say because everyone everyone has the

2:06

right to feel

2:08

how they do about stuff but obviously I

2:10

guess social

2:11

standards kind of push different ideas

2:14

do you believe in the idea of freedom of

2:17

speech yeah okay in general in general

2:21

okay that's good that's a good way to go

2:23

if you believe in it how in its entirety

2:27

that kind of means that everything's on

2:29

the table you can say whatever you like

2:31

but then are there what's the nuances

2:34

are there like how would you restrict

2:36

things how would you sort of punish

2:38

people if it's if you believe in its

2:40

entirety

2:41

like can you just go around like

2:44

saying racial slurs on the streets

2:47

how do you control that if you're

2:48

allowing it

2:49

I don't know I kind of feel like in an

2:51

ideal Society huge I've

2:54

mutual respect for everyone so your free

2:56

speech it might be free speech behind

2:59

closed doors but you wouldn't say it

3:01

to just anybody because you don't

3:03

necessarily know what

3:05

they believe in if that makes sense so

3:09

are you going down the road like people

3:10

should be more educated 100 people

3:12

should be more educated and that's how

3:14

we combat these yeah absolutely that's

3:16

how you can combat most issues just

3:18

education respect as well yeah

3:21

definitely respect definitely respect

3:23

with this question there are always like

3:25

little nuances like I believe in it but

3:27

yeah um

3:29

in the complete idea like people are

3:31

afraid to say whatever they want Express

3:33

themselves in whatever they want it's

3:35

their opinion or should there be you

3:38

know consequences yeah I mean I think

3:41

I think um

3:44

it's often

3:45

it's it can be sort of like the idea of

3:48

freedom of speech can be really

3:49

butchered in a sense like just say some

3:52

crazy sort of

3:54

like bigotry nonsense and then the power

3:57

of it yeah exactly and then it's a it's

3:59

a really like lame excuse for some

4:01

people to just be horrible well I

4:02

suppose if you say things that are

4:05

racist or homophobic or misogynistic

4:10

um or you say things that might incite

4:13

violence and at what point should people

4:18

be sanctions and should that be a

4:22

um you know litigators

4:24

um should there be like you know should

4:27

people be thrown in prison for what they

4:29

say I think most people would say and

4:31

Western countries probably not okay so

4:33

how do we do it then a lot of people can

4:35

get canceled I suppose on social media

4:37

and you know people's lives can be kind

4:40

of torn apart they can lose their jobs

4:42

is it a governmental punishment or is it

4:44

a cultural punishment probably more

4:46

cultural yeah okay I'd say cultural like

4:49

like what like social rejection or

4:51

something yeah

4:53

a fair price to pay for okay for

4:57

upsetting somebody yeah I think yeah and

5:00

so so let's say this person screaming

5:02

racial slurs we should just let them do

5:04

that and everyone just avoid them don't

5:05

listen to him or how do you I don't know

5:09

it would be if I don't know I don't want

5:12

to make anybody do anything really to be

5:14

honest

5:16

they should be urged to

5:19

to maybe go to a class or you know

5:22

I don't know I don't want it to sound

5:24

too

5:25

totalitarian but you kind of some people

5:28

need to

5:30

learn you know you can't just say

5:32

anything you want to anybody oh there

5:34

should be uh repercussions but not

5:35

governmental yeah yeah just uh yeah we

5:38

advise you do this but people are just

5:40

not gonna okay you're gonna be shunned

5:41

from society kind of how do you control

5:44

this then how would you control say

5:46

someone is using racial slurs should the

5:48

government have rules in place like you

5:50

get locked up

5:54

I think it's more of a cultural thing

5:57

rather than like a a governed thing but

6:00

it's not necessarily how it should be

6:01

but it's kind of

6:03

it's kind of something yeah definitely

6:04

yeah and what's the consequence then if

6:06

you believe in complete freedom because

6:09

I guess the the opposite would be

6:12

governmental restrictions like yeah

6:14

arrested suede

6:18

is that the route you want to go down

6:20

and if not then how what's the

6:22

punishment then is it like a cultural

6:24

punishment like social culling like

6:26

rejection yeah I mean I think that's

6:29

I think it's like a cultural punishment

6:31

like yeah well you you know you say what

6:33

you want and then people judge you on

6:35

that

6:36

um they can they can that is free for

6:38

them to judge you however they like yeah

6:40

I think the problem comes when the

6:43

freedom of sick speech directly harms a

6:47

certain group of people or like certain

6:49

part of society or something like when

6:50

it when freedom of speech causes direct

6:52

harm yes like racism or sexism anything

6:56

like that

6:57

than like homophobia

6:59

then

7:01

it's not okay and that's when it should

7:03

have consequences okay and what should

7:06

be the oh it's tough right

7:09

banishment which is complete there's a

7:12

there's an island yeah yeah absolutely

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dollars in lesson credits do you feel

8:13

like living in the UK you're free to

8:15

express yourself completely

8:19

would you find it acceptable for someone

8:21

what's to sort of Express their opinions

8:23

which you wouldn't agree with is it okay

8:25

yeah I think there's definitely like

8:26

this country you've given more of an

8:28

even platform spaces that you can talk

8:30

about things more openly yeah and like

8:32

we're definitely less oppressed than a

8:34

lot of places around the world so yeah I

8:36

think the UK is definitely a good place

8:37

for that for sure I mean to a large

8:39

degree uh in um as in it's not legal or

8:43

you know there's obviously public

8:45

debates that uh is very Fierce these

8:48

days and um but but it does exist do you

8:51

feel like you can are free to express

8:53

yourself yeah

8:55

what in speech or in general in any way

8:58

like with Arts with yeah I think so do

9:01

you think I think it comes with like

9:05

Ops I don't know if popsicle is the

9:06

right word but it can sometimes feel

9:07

difficult yeah it's certainly not

9:09

possible but you're aware of like

9:10

cultural like taboos that you shouldn't

9:13

yeah yeah yeah yeah with like Politics

9:17

as well depends what the majority is

9:19

you'll definitely be able to see it and

9:21

how people tend to express themselves I

9:24

think okay but let's say you had because

9:25

like Britain is like left leaning do you

9:28

yeah would you do would you feel nervous

9:30

about like speaking your mind say if you

9:32

had more right-wing views I'm not saying

9:35

like yeah all right yeah but like maybe

9:36

more conservative opinions yeah do you

9:39

feel free to express yourself in

9:40

Brighton or in England with uh I think I

9:42

do okay but I think yeah it depends

9:44

where we are whenever I'm in Brighton I

9:46

feel

9:46

free to express myself you can express

9:49

yourself freely I guess I mean depends

9:52

where I am in what context but there's

9:54

things I wouldn't say just for the peace

9:56

not that I've got any weird opinions but

9:59

um but do you know what I mean like um I

10:02

think that people are not very good with

10:03

nuance and uh are very self-righteous

10:07

about their opinions these days more

10:08

than they used to be I do think we are

10:10

socializing to thinking we do have

10:12

freedom speech whether we necessarily

10:14

have it is a different story I think

10:16

yeah but we're all told that I know we

10:19

all personally believe that we do to

10:21

some extent I think yeah what do you do

10:24

about things like

10:26

um art an expression

10:28

I'm speaking from a sense of like

10:31

retrospective

10:33

stuff like recently I just thought of in

10:35

the news there's a thing about Monty

10:36

Python at the moment and there's a

10:39

there's a section of Life of Brian which

10:40

is now

10:42

kind of seen as a bit transphobic right

10:43

and they're talking of cutting this out

10:45

okay how do you feel about this should

10:48

we leave out as it is or should we edit

10:50

it to our modern society

10:53

I I don't think it should be edited to

10:55

modern society people should again learn

10:58

what it used to be like yeah and if we

11:01

don't want to go down that road again

11:03

then don't go down it but there's I feel

11:06

like history has happened you can't just

11:08

not yeah you can't just ignore it yeah

11:11

people shouldn't be bubble wrapped into

11:13

a perfect world where people should not

11:15

be but we're up no we bubble wrapped

11:17

enough I think to be honest I really do

11:21

I think that's really tough because

11:24

obviously when it's from so longer like

11:27

that

11:28

oh did you hide it could you show it

11:31

because it's things like that are

11:33

obviously going to be dated yeah yeah

11:35

but then that doesn't mean you just

11:36

shouldn't I don't know I mean I think

11:39

about Roald Dahl they took out some

11:40

Roald Dahl stuff yeah yeah okay um and I

11:42

think I'd say I think that was right

11:43

because I think especially when it's

11:45

kids books okay um it's you know

11:48

children nowadays don't need to be

11:50

reading very old-fashioned words that

11:52

wouldn't be used now at all okay

11:54

um that's a separate example

11:57

um no no but it's a good example because

11:59

it is still kind of censorship yeah I

12:01

guess when it comes to like actual like

12:03

socialization of like especially young

12:05

people yeah then maybe but when it's

12:08

like sometimes it can be

12:10

kind of an example of what is wrong and

12:13

like what's not okay in society whereas

12:16

if you take that out then it's kind of

12:17

like oh it's anything acceptable as long

12:19

as those guys don't still like stand by

12:21

all those views and stuff like

12:22

everyone's constantly obviously learning

12:24

and growing yeah

12:25

and languages like an evolution as well

12:28

so like something was spoken about back

12:30

then people didn't seem like offensive

12:33

or something definitely could be taken

12:34

that way now so it's I think like

12:37

deleting it or getting rid of it and

12:39

editing it isn't necessarily the right

12:40

way but giving me context and like yeah

12:43

yeah I think people I don't know

12:44

understand why people might find it

12:46

offensive now or even back then but

12:48

people just didn't realize it's

12:49

definitely the right thing so it's more

12:51

like education how do you feel about

12:53

retrospective kind of censorship

12:56

if you know what I mean like Roald Dahl

12:58

his books are being kind of yeah yeah

13:00

rejected now

13:02

Monty Python they're cutting a bit out

13:04

of the movie now I think I don't know I

13:07

think that's just like a like a feature

13:10

of how like generationally like what's

13:13

culturally acceptable like it's not

13:16

obviously changed isn't it you know like

13:17

sort of at least with like gender sort

13:19

of obviously 50s and 60s and stuff so

13:22

women were you know looked down upon and

13:24

stuff like that and obviously you can

13:25

see that in sort of old movies like this

13:28

they're treated very derogatory but now

13:29

it's obviously changed yeah yeah so what

13:31

should we do

13:32

to what to counteract do we hide the

13:35

issue or do we show it and educate I

13:38

think it's important to show it because

13:39

otherwise you're forgetting about like

13:42

it's the classic saying those who forget

13:44

history are doomed to repeat it I sort

13:46

of like something we should promote to

13:48

follow but I think it's kind of a good

13:50

life lesson to see how things have

13:51

changed so yeah maybe for the better for

13:53

some ways yeah you remember this guy in

13:55

Scotland who he like taught his

13:57

girlfriend's dog to do a Nazi salute to

14:00

do it a Nazi salute oh someone taught

14:02

their dog to do it they're not their dog

14:04

their girlfriends or she was away how

14:06

can you teach a dog to a Nazi salute I

14:09

think she came back and he sort of said

14:10

the keywords probably something also to

14:13

do with Nazism and the dog did it and if

14:16

and he got into like the criminal

14:18

justice system from it more than

14:20

canceled but he says a joke yeah his

14:24

help he still protests to the day that

14:26

it's out of context it was just it was a

14:28

joke that kind of got taken out of

14:29

printer yeah how'd you how does that

14:32

work in terms of freedom of speech how

14:34

do you control that it was ridiculous

14:36

but there's

14:38

sometimes making fun of offensive things

14:40

makes it easier to deal with like I like

14:43

this do you know what I mean I just that

14:45

is one of the whole things about comedy

14:46

in my opinion yeah I've followed using

14:49

I've followed comedy since I was a

14:50

little kid and I just find it it's like

14:53

therapy for the people that do it right

14:55

and the people that are into certain

14:57

comedians they do it because it helps

14:58

them feel better and diffuses words

15:01

diffuses yeah diffuses everything yeah

15:03

it makes you like yeah diffuses probably

15:06

a good word yeah I think when yeah when

15:08

you have those repercussions it's

15:09

definitely best to stay away like yeah

15:11

something that deep like seated in

15:14

history is a bit like you know awkward

15:16

yeah very it's like but for you the

15:19

answer is always education cultural

15:21

rejection maybe or yeah I think I think

15:24

so

15:24

yeah it's good to be educated about it

15:26

and know what you're saying like you can

15:29

still be punished in a way without going

15:32

to prison like with certain things that

15:34

aren't super obviously if something's

15:35

like

15:36

really extreme like someone's abusing

15:38

someone like um culturally or something

15:41

then that's obviously not good but if

15:43

it's something small I do feel like they

15:45

should have some kind of like punishment

15:47

almost but like more like to make them

15:50

feel bad that they've done it like a

15:53

shaming yeah public shaming but that is

15:55

almost like that's like cancer culture

15:56

though isn't it it's like public shaming

15:58

on the internet that's the sort of

16:00

that's like a whole nother yeah

16:04

I don't think it's a very healthy thing

16:06

if

16:07

one category is illegal and then another

16:11

category that might be offensive and you

16:14

know is completely legal I think legal

16:16

systems are very binary yeah and but in

16:19

real life context as they say is

16:20

everything yeah and just because someone

16:22

makes a joke about Nazism or I don't

16:25

know the Casey or referring to it all

16:27

but

16:28

um I suppose

16:29

um it's probably important for any law

16:32

like that man getting you know legal

16:34

sanctions or whatever it's probably very

16:35

important for our laws to take into

16:38

account context and not have blanket

16:40

rules

16:42

um which I think for things like

16:45

um you know Nazi symbolism and and stuff

16:48

there has been in the past yeah okay

16:51

um but obviously there's plenty of other

16:52

uh very offensive uh things that might

16:56

not be illegal per se how do you feel

16:58

about these there's this new terminology

17:00

like trigger words

17:02

like for example there's an artist in

17:03

Brighton called Ren and he recently

17:05

brought out a video called it's called

17:06

suicides and the lyrics are you saying

17:09

this word and people kind of get to

17:11

change the lettering on YouTube because

17:13

it was

17:14

like didn't help his views and it

17:19

yeah again that's another

17:23

one that where

17:25

you needs to be known about does it make

17:27

it easier or harder don't sugarcoat that

17:29

word it's a serious matter and it should

17:31

be known about yeah like the more people

17:33

that know about something like that the

17:35

better

17:36

you know it makes it easier for people

17:37

to talk about you or going through that

17:39

thing you know it's there's no way

17:42

the word suicide should be censored in

17:45

my opinion no not at all

17:47

to some things I feel like we're like

17:51

hiding it from us but you're also hiding

17:52

it from like younger generations and it

17:54

kind of feels like it's not free to be

17:55

spoken about okay but also at the same

17:58

time maybe

17:59

it should be a trigger warning for some

18:02

people but I think it really depends on

18:04

the situation thanks for watching this

18:07

week's episode please let us know in

18:09

comments below if you agree with the

18:10

notion of freedom of speech and if you

18:12

feel that you have freedom of speech in

18:14

your respective country and as always

18:16

we'll see you next time

18:18

[Music]

18:24

thank you

18:26

[Music]

18:29

so bloody windy