Iranians all over the world condemn all sorts of censorship when it comes via the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). Yet while IRI's actions are always condemned when it comes to silencing the voice of its citizens, we as Iranians have not succeeded to truly honor free speech when it relates to our own actions.

We hear a few slogans quite a lot lately- "in the name of unity this should not be said" or "in the name of unity such questions should not be raised" or "this article should not be published" or better yet.. The all time favorite "this article is not worth reading?"

It is these statements that have made us wonder when censorship is good and when it is detrimental to the collective good. Can censorship ever be justified? While nobody can successfully come up with a correct answer there are quite some interesting articles in the e-world that should make each of us think for a second about our own actions. One such source starts with the title "Optimism & Free Speech". Excerpts are as follows:

- The Ethical Spectacle.org

"To most people, free speech means the complete protection of the ideas which they themselves find sympathetic, with complete license to government to suppress those they do not."

"... readily create entire belief systems with self-serving biases, and the more skillfully these self-serving components are hidden from both the self and others, the more difficult it will be to counter them." - [Robert Trivers]

"When you pluck out free speech, all other freedoms are lost with it. To defend against the enemy, you become the enemy, and there is nothing left to defend."

We invite you to read this site and consider "Today's Iran" and "Iranians Today" when it comes to the concept of Freedom of Speech.