Is there ever justification for a state to limit its people’s freedom?

In 21st century, the evolution of mass media, technology,

and politics has transformed people’s lifestyle, making it to be

more self-centered and cosmopolitan. The pervasiveness of

media allows us to express our opinions and believes to the

society according to democratic system. The democratic system

allows the participation of citizens to be decision-makers and

patrons in government through the representatives in parliament.

In light of that statement, the government ought to limit every

individual’s freedom. Limiting one’s freedom means that one is

prohibited to acknowledge some information and to act on one’s

own by the government. Although human’s basic rights is

guaranteed by Atlantic Charter, the governments are required to

use their powers to create some rules which limit people’

freedom in order to protect the national interest. Therefore, I

think that this act is justifiable to limit people’s freedom in order

to benefit the society at large.

Some governments have justifications to limit society’s

freedom in order to control the flow of sensitive information,

which may cause disarray, and mayhem in the society. Some

governments effectuate media censorship to prohibit the society

to gain access to some information. For instance, Singapore

government implements the media censorship in order to

stabilize the society, from any defamation, and uproar by

oppositions. These acts of provocations may cause chaos in

society, and in turn, will destabilize the government in the long

term. Thus, the step that has been taken by government is

justifiable as it may serve the best interest for the society.

However, some believe that media is used a tool by the

governments to gain control of the society. They claim that the

governments instill the propagandas to the citizens in order to

maintain the rule in the society. These bans of information curb

people’ freedom, hiding the truth from the citizens. For example,

The Chinese government banned the dissemination of

information regarding government’s history, such as Tiananmen

Square, and Communist Party domination and opinions against

government in the Internet in order to inhibit any party

questioning the governments’ stance.

Most of the motives of the governments are maintaining the

stability and security in the community. The governments are

obliged to protect their citizens and maintain order in the

community. The flow of information through the Internet may

lead to social turmoil and political upheaval as the countries in

the middle easts experienced the detrimental consequences

from it. Chaos and discontentment in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia

happened because the flow of information is not censored

leading to insurgency and rebellious acts by the opposition

parties.

The state is justified to limit people’ freedom by implementing

some policies to maintain social cohesion, and inculcate

traditional values in the society. Maintaining social cohesion and

inculcating conventional values are imperative to some

communities as social identities of those communities. Each

government has its own regulation to supervise its citizens in

order to behave properly based on the norms that have been

rooted in society. For instance, in some Islamic countries such

as UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the societies still uphold Islamic

laws, which ban cohabitation and sex before marriage. The

societies also play some parts by participating actively; hence,

these actions vindicate governments’ decision to enact in the first

place. Therefore, the act of government of limiting government

will indirectly benefit the society.

Protecting the state secrets is one of the government’s roles,

which inhibit human’s rights to access the information. The state

secrets are considered valuable assets for every state; thereby,

this information cannot be disclosed to the public. Obtaining this

information may cause belligerent acts of certain countries

against other, and discontentment among the societies because

this information contains some sensitive issues regarding

religious, race, and so on. In fact, the Wikileaks scandal led by

Julian Assange causes deleterious consequences to the

American government as it revealed some diplomatic cables,

which contained documentation of killing innocent life by

Americans, and observations by its ambassadors. Exposure of

this information to the public only cause vilification from the

societies; thus, the state secretes should be kept from the public

for the society’s benefit.

In a nutshell, a state is justified to limit people’ freedom as the

freedom granted to people may not benefit the society in the long

term. (not finish)