Summary of Jacob Mchangama's Free Speech

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#1 For much of recorded history, speaking truth to power was dangerous and ill-advised. The ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius stressed the importance of obedience toward superiors and rulers, while the Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu from around 2050 BCE decreed that if a slave woman curses someone acting with the authority of her mistress, they shall scour her mouth with one sila of salt.

#2 Among the ancient world’s harsh commandments, we can detect traces of religious tolerance. The Achaemenid Persian Empire’s king, Cyrus the Great, issued a clay cylinder declaring freedom of worship for his empire’s subjects in the sixth century BCE.

#3 The city of Athens was the first to formalize and articulate the values of democracy and free speech as a source of pride and virtue. However, the Athenian democracy was not ideal, as it did not include women, foreigners, and slaves.

#4 Demosthenes, a famous Athenian orator, was a champion of parrhēsía. He believed that free speech led to truth, and that democracies were superior to oligarchies that produced fear.

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