Melanie Almanza

English IV
Jan 19, 2018
How does orwell feel on limits of Free Speech
Free speech is the first amendment in the U.S Constitution, but is also the most talked about
amendment due to the fact that many Americans question whether or not there should be a limit to their
freedom of speech. According to Orwell and his book 1984 he nearly projects the importance of the
freedom of speech and how it should not be limited due to the fact that he shows that once you allow the
government to take control of your freedom of speech they could run with it and have the power to limit
whatever they want, possibly shutting your voice down when it comes to government decisions. There
should be no limits or controls over what people can say unless it is a directed threat to one's safety.
Orwell believes that the freedom of speech should not be limited because Orwell shows how the
government could abuse and take advantage of a person's freedom of speech by limiting more than just
the negative connotations that people throw at one another. In Orwell's book 1984 he states “For a
moment he seemed even to have been deprived of the power of speech. His tongue worked soundlessl,
forming the opening syllables first of one word, then of the other, and over and over again” (Orwell 157).
This proves that Orwell believe that there should not be limits on the Freedom of Speech of people
because of the fact that people should have the human born right to speak their mind how they please to
express themselves. He shows that if the government takes control of this right they can control all
because in his book he created ‘thought police, though crime’ which is basically incarcerated those who
said the slightest idea that the government didn’t agree with. People freedom of speech should not be
limited because of the fact that it is based on a person’s responsibility to learn what is acceptable to say
and what isn’t. In Milo Yiannopoulos’ Downfall Demonstrates the Necessary Limits of Free Speech by
Irene Monroe it states “​when this form of verbal abuse becomes part and parcel of the everyday parlance
and exchange between people, we have created a society characterized by its zero-tolerance of inclusion
and diversity, and where name-calling becomes an accepted norm.” (Monroe 6). This proves that speech
whether it be mean or not does not mean that we shouldn’t be able to say that because what one says is
based on one's duty to know right from wrong. It has become a norm for people to use offensive language
towards one another and there is no possible way nor does orwell believe that they should limit freedom
of speech. In the book 1984 it states “ How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two
are four” (Orwell 250). This was a very important part in the novel because winston is arguing with
O’brien about whether he is holding up 5 or 4 fingers, O’brien is trying to make winston say there is 5
fingers up when there is only 4, this proves how difficult it would be to try to limit people's freedom of
speech when they only speak of what they believe they see in front of their eyes like winston had stated.
Orwell believe that the freedom of speech should not be limited regardless of the negative
connotations it might carry among people, also because of the fact that if the government gains access of
ones speech they would be able to control one’s every move whether we agree with it or not because we
gave them that right to control and they continued to take more and more as they please and we lost our
voice to speak up and say anything about this. Although hate speech can cause some to feel less of
themselves there are other mechanisms that can be used to avoid it but it is inevitable to control what one
has to say.