Which country has more freedom of speech? You will mostly not agree and will debate the heck out of it but...I believe UK has more not less

nah we just aren't foul mouthed and ignorant when we speak our mind.. when we speak about something we are concerned about it's with articulation and we USE the language and language skills...we still say what we mean, of course we do, we are Brits who tend to take on the world in a debate.. but we do it in a reasoned way which encourages debate.. rather than just ranting and swearing in an uncivilised way.. 

PC is very different from freedom of speech tho isnt it!  One would have to bear in mind the religious nuts there who are soooo conservative and who all act like they don't even have sex and frown on sex before marriage; the sort who have no empathy with single mothers and act like sex is all the woman's fault...  and who probably do 3/4 of the things but don't dare mention the word sex, and never raise the subject.. most Americans tell me that one of the reasons they hang out online on some of these groups is cos they cannot express freely their desires and fantasies.. here we can all just say it without fear of being judged... My American friends tell me that much of America is very outwardly pious when it comes to sex - to the point of hypocrisy.  To me that's not free speech if you have to worry about talking about sex! We are far freeer here in that respect...  

We can also tell our boss to go f*ck himself and not lose our job... the culture here is honesty.. and being able to express an opinion and how we feel.. I am told Americans pretty much overwork and cowtow to their bosses... we sure dont here!!  

I do think it's the same tho.. there are limits and things you can and can't say everywhere.. we can say to our boss you are an ass**le just fine.. that's plain speaking... we can express our opinion; we just do it eloquently.. I figure America and the UK  are like this site.. you can say things but if you are insulting then you will get told off.. quite rightly.. we can use our brains to figure out constructive ways to say something in a civilised way..  cant we??? It's not illegal to say what you think here.. we have freedom.. we just DONT say it in an uncultured uncivilised way resorting to swear words and insults.. imo you've lost it once you get to that point anyway and the other person has the moral high ground... 

It's like Trump and all the ignorant, petty, things he said and the utterly infantile uncivilised way he behaved in the election.. it wouldnt be that what he said was illegal here.. you can voice sexist and racist things.. its just no one here would have voted for the utterly ignorant excuse for an American ... we don't have rules against it.. just we are all, or mostly way more reasonable and respecting of people here.. 

I think you are very confused as to what Freedom of Speech as a concept actually means.  Freedom of Speech and Freedom from Consequences and Social Judgement are two totally different things.

When stating any thought or idea gets one into legal trouble.  That's restriction of Freedom of Speech.   Not getting fired by your private boss for calling him an a**hole and telling him to go F*** himself is Freedom from Accountability and Consequences.  ( If that you can do this then that's ridiculous and a violation of your bosses rights.)
Being able to talk about sex amoungst private individuals without them making opinions  doesn't have any bearing of Freedom of Speech.

It has to do with how the LAW and GOVERNMENT handles people putting forth their views with their voice.
Making long winded post about totally unrelated things like our work habits and religiosity as a nation doesn't  sell your idea either.  It's just meandering off topic and moving the goal posts.

Righty1 also has a an ill informed idea of the concept to with his PC remark.  Both of y'all are mistaking Freedom of Speech as meaning Freedom to not experience Social Judgement by your fellow people.   Not what it means.  It's about legislation against expressing ideas.

Honestly.. no.. we have freedom of speech in the way you outline.. we can suggest an idea we can say what we think in terms of ideas and thoughts.. so i don't see the problem.. we cannot engage in hate language that bullies or harms others rights.. that's not a legal thing tho.. just a moral one...  In a civilised society we recognise that our rights and freedoms come with responsibility and where our freedom takes away another's to live their life free or bullying discrimination etc then morally we don't have that right..  Legally I am sure in your country too if you sexually or racially harass someone you'd probably get in trouble too.. 


We all have freedom of speech.. just some societies accept there are consequences and that our freedom does not outweigh others.. 

And we all know in the real world where people go around expressing hateful discrimination they only do so because they think they can get away with it.. it's usually directed against people who are less able to defend themselves.. if it weren't there would be real consequences.. in the form of a smack in the mouth... 

The work place incident was an example... we have free speech as you do.. and legally we can't be fired for telling the boss we think he's an asswipe.. I am sorry if you felt it was off track but perhaps that's cos you didn't follow the point about free speech..  To clarify we have free speech, as much or more than you do.. but morally it's about how you say things...as civilised human beings we should have the intelligence and wit to say what we want without resorting to sexist, racist or discriminatory language... if people cannot do that then just shows their ignorance and that they have a way to go in terms of treating others with respect..

SO quite simply you are incorrect about the fact that we are not able to express ideas, concerns and thoughts freely.. but i can see from your tone that you aren't going to accept this.. you have your mind made up.. pity but as we know many American's don't have a clue what happens outside their own doorstep and so they have nothing to base it on.. 

So to simplify cos I can see that's what you want.. we do not have ANY legal consequences of expressing ideas here.. I am sorry you were mistaken about this.. but hopefully you are better informed now

The hypocrisy and contradictions of statements is vast in this.   Yet this old and now too boring to start again.

Indeed it's old Glis.. I was just checking old threads to make sure I hadn't missed anything.. we are polite and considerate that way.. as to your rude insults well hey it's a free country.. well at the moment (who knows what might happen under Trump with his right wing facism. but that's your prob not mine) 

I will refrain from engaging in like for like rudeness and ill-manneredness... simply cos we are like that but suffice it said that it says exactly more in support of what I said than anything.. I CAN say what i want.. i just choose to say it more civilly.. were we in person.... I'd love to show you exactly how plainly I can speak.. lol legally too but I have respect for this forum and I have civilised dignity..  

cute. And i am absolutely sure you didn't mean anything bad by that now did you.. you just wanted to send me a cute little much loved bear, another Brit invention I may add, cos you wanted to tell me you love me really and that you'd love to give me a great big bear hug

Message me about this topic if you wish, Glis.
In addition to the differences between law and social expectation, I would like to know how you further define the differences between PC and freedom of speech.

I risk being rude myself in saying this. The issue interests me because at various times I have seen and heard Americans (not all, of course, but many and frequently) speaking with appallingly hurtful rudeness in Australia, as tourists travelling in other countries, and on social sites such as EP. It almost became a problem here on aM, back when we were on the Ning platform, but scrupulous monitoring managed to get rid of it before it became entrenched and destructive.

Ari and I once had an American guest who stayed at our place for about six weeks (he came to promote a course on a "Buddhist" approach to climate change.) From the moment he arrived, he spoke non-stop so loudly that it was almost shouting. Most of what he said was ignorant criticism of how we lived in a subtropical farm environment based on his ideas of far North American suburban correctness. For instance, he asserted that our grass was too long if it was over one inch and so we were obviously very lazy. After a few days he realised that it grows three inches per day. It seems it never occurred to him to apologise for his many insults. For us, it would have been rude to tell him how rude he was, so we were stuck with putting up with him until he finally left. He will never be invited to return.

The very fact that the TOS is necessary reveals a cultural pattern. I would like to understand why Americans apparently believe it is acceptable to speak to each other in this way. Perhaps it is only some. If this is the case, is it only an angry type of personality? Or are there social situations where people grow up with verbal abuse as a normal mode of communication? If so where, how, and why? This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at January 2, 2017 5:16 PM MST

Oh god. I feel your pain on this.  Suburban American ideals are the worst and the representative of the worst American qualities.
The suburbs of America are living hells and bastions of nosy hoity-toities who hate minding their own business.   I have a pretty good picture of the type of jerk-off you're talking about based on the grass height thing.    They are even worse when they are a neighbor or town board member.

They also tend to have the most money to travel the world with and define us abroad which really paints a bad picture.  

That last bit seems to be a common theme.  Our exports however, have often in the past been more destructive.  I suppose everyone needs a hobby, but still....

https://reportuk.org/2016/05/22/hooligan-fears-grow-as-1000-convicted-brit-footie-thugs-free-to-travel-to-euros/

So wait...  The UK or England's government ( not sure which one is in charge here since it seems it's referring to English hooligans specifically) bans them from travel? 

It would be the UK government, and fans of all national and club teams can receive banning orders to prevent overseas travel, yes.

I recall I was working at the Inland Revenue (as it was then) when a local paper carried a front page composed of pictures of people involved in what is rather stupidly known as 'football violence'.  There were about 40 or so photographs covering the page and 3 of the people worked in the same building I did.  :)

 Huh.   Interesting,  kinda weird, but neat to know.

Didn't Scotland pass some laws about singing certain songs at Celtics/Rangers games a few years back because of football hooliogans?

In an even simpler version.. we are the same.. we has as much freedom of speech.. there is NO legal problem with expressing ideas and thoughts indeed we've been doing it a lot longer than you guys.. we are just more respectful of others and respect others rights as much as our own. Our right doesn't supersede theirs -that's just being civilised.. we seem to have a strong ethos of civil rights here.

a few links surrounding this issue - there were a lot of paranoic misinformation and comments from some Americans who made totally off the wall comments such as that all our emails in the UK are monitored by police.. lol well seriously that's just plain paranoia.. as one guy says.. we EXPECT freedom of speech as our right so we don't feel threatened.. we don't have to have it written in law that we have free speech.. tho that's there under the EU regs.. we just expect it.. and know that an absence of prohibition means we can..

https://www.quora.com/How-does-freedom-of-speech-differ-in-the-United-Kingdom-when-compared-to-the-United-States

http://fromsheeptoalligators.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/freedom-of-speech-in-usa-compared-to-uk.html

https://www.quora.com/How-does-freedom-of-speech-differ-in-the-United-Kingdom-when-compared-to-the-United-States

I could go on.. but the simple message is.. don't fret we have had free speech a lot longer than you guys and we don't feel the need to be paranoid about it being taken away.. it wouldnt happen mainly cos we are pretty civilised about such things

Contrary to historical misrepresentations of America's first Pilgrims, the UK virtually invented freedom of speech as part of its process of evolving democracy and the Westminster System. The Pilgrims left England not because they were being persecuted, but because they could not bear others not accepting their ideas. English freedom of speech existed long before America wrote its constitution. 
An example is Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, one of the largest public gardens in Central London. On Saturdays, anyone who feels like it can put down a plastic milk crate (used to be a wooden soap box), stand on it, and speak to who ever will listen about any topic. The audience are free to cheer, jeer, or interject or question as they see fit. Good speakers can attract quite large crowds.
Another tradition is leafleting. A person can write anything they wish others to think about and discuss, print it off in lots of leaflets and distribute them in public places to anyone who will accept the handout. A major campaign against MacDonalds's exploitation of young workers was begun and won in this way.
The only freedoms of speech that are illegal (and not socially acceptable) are those which encouraged hate against a particular group, or which promoted terrorism.

 I've never heard anyone object that forbidding the use of swear words or blaspheming is a restriction of freedom of speech. Why? Because such words are used to express emotions with emphasis and there are other words one can use to express the same thoughts equally effectively without being offensive. By the same logic, political correctness, (a misnomer for the concept,) does not inhibit freedom of speech in my view. PC language is full of many alternatives to jingoistic and prejudging language, allowing the speaker to say precisely what they mean without perpetuating common misconceptions. This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at January 2, 2017 4:38 PM MST

I doubt you could find anyone who associates the Puritan Pilgrims with Freedom of Speech.   They tend to be aligned with our right to Freedom of Religion which is closely related but distinct.