Freedom of Speech

For the second book assignment, I’m reading the Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu. I fully plan on writing more about this book during the Book Blog Post later in the semester. Suffice it to say, this book opens with a strong motif centered around the freedom of speech. The book begins during the Cultural Revolution of China. During this time, Imperial China was overthrown by the revolutionaries where they made radical changes to the government. One of the pressing topics in those first few chapters was that this new communist party didn’t care about your arguments. They knew their truth and you no longer could argue your own. Many were executed because they were too “capitalistic” in their politics or choices. Among other things, one of the first ideals that communism tries to remove is your freedom of speech. No longer can you speak out against the government. No longer are you able to share controversial ideas. The central government gets to decide what you can or can’t say.