Do we really have freedom of speech?

Due to the recent national attention Don Imus has received for calling the Rutgers Women’s basketball team “nappy headed hoes,” and then being fired, I question whether or not we truly have freedom of speech. In a recent debate with one of my close friends, he argued that we are free to say what we want to say by law, but we must be prepared to face the consequences of our words. Very true. On the other hand, I argued that we have the optical illusion of freedom of speech because consequences, even though they are not institutionalized by the government, for our words do exist. But then, I caught myself, because in public schools, freedom of speech is limited. Teachers, by law, are not allowed to talk about certain subjects in a way that may persuade students to change their political, religious, etc views. Also, at work, people are not allowed to say whatever they want to people in regards to topics related to sex (i.e. sexual harassment lawsuits).

And again, my friend argued that in other countries, the law states that people do not have freedom speech, that they will be punished by law for speaking out, for example, against the government. However, Bill Maher was fired from his show Politically Incorrect , after saying, “We have been the cowards, lobbing Cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, not cowardly" in regards to the actions of the terrorists of 9/11 (wish I had said it last night). While he wasn't arrested for his comments, he was deemed unpatriotic and lost his job.

With all of this said, do we truly have the freedom of speech? Is there a difference when a country has a law against freedom of speech and when a country doesn’t, yet in that same country people are held accountable for what they say? What are your thoughts?