Jamie Bell Dec. 17, 2010

Limitations of Liberties

Liberalism is the collection of ideologies committed to the principle of the dignity and

freedom of the individual as the foundation of society and has respect for the sovereignty for the

reasoning of the individuals. It emphasizes the individuals to be aware and protect their rights and

freedoms and allows them to present their opinions if they feel they are being threatened.

Liberalism allows people to be able to influence and choose the leaders that represent them to

ensure what they believe is being expressed. The source presented to us is explaining that

government leaders or individuals who have secured their liberty should guard their opposition

and help them protect their freedom to avoid becoming a target if things fall through. “What he

does to others will be done to him” is a saying that helps us to understand the underlying theme of

the quotation in the source. The source respects the dignity of every individual and recognizes and

protects the rights and freedoms of the citizens. We should embrace the perspective reflected in the

source and become aware of the point they are trying to portray. It can be a good lesson so we can

prevent repeating events that have happened in history and can keep peace between people of

different societies.

Some may argue that the government leaders are not respecting the charter of rights and

freedoms that the individual is guaranteed. They complain that the government is supposed to

protect us, the individuals, by protecting our rights and freedoms not by enforcing decisions that

they believe will benefit or protect us from harm. The people who express this opinion or concern

don’t understand that Liberal leaders of Democracy have found it necessary to limit people’s

liberties in extreme situations such as war, times of crisis or country disaster. This has become a

necessity for governments to do so because it allows the government to make decisions for the well

being of all or the majority of the people. This has caused many controversial debates because there

is a fine line between upholding the right to freedom of expression and protecting other human

Jamie Bell Dec. 17, 2010 rights. This allows events such as hate speeches that may motivate some individuals to perform

things that may cause harm to others or disrupt the rights and freedoms of others in these extreme

times to be eliminated. The only way that a government can limit a person’s rights and freedoms is

if it has a justifiable purpose or to protect everyone’s rights. For example, in the 1994 mass media

such as television and radio was used to promote a genocide or racially motivated attacks in the

Rwanda genocide. People do have the right and freedom of expression and freedom of the press but

the government is now able to limit how much of these freedoms can be expressed if they are going

against the right to ones safety. Limiting freedoms like the one in this example controls the outcome

of the events, if some freedoms weren’t controlled in extreme situations matters could get out of the

governments control and end up worse than if the government controlled the freedoms.

The source is presenting a quotation that warns the reader about precedent events which

will reach you if you do not protect or respect the liberties of an individual. If governments’ expect

the people to have faith and respect them they need to do the same in return because what they do

to others will be done to them. dictatorship government. when they don’t protect the rights of their

people. In most cases the people begin to rebel to the government because they are not

representing the beliefs of the people It is stating that if you individually secure your personal

rights and freedoms but take advantage or disallow the rights of your people they will in turn, turn

against you and do the exact same to you. If you don’t protect the rights and freedoms of other your

rights and freedoms won’t be respected or protected in return. It is an issue that can happen in the

smallest situations or in the biggest world events.

http://www.freedom4ever.net/freedom_rightfully.htm

Jamie Bell Dec. 17, 2010

http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408