Discrimination is treating someone differently due to their race, gender, or age. Discrimination, especially discrimination against colored man and women, has been around for a very long time. Only in recent times, many countries began to create anti-discrimination laws in order to stop discrimination. However, there are no laws restricting potentially offensive expressions. This leads to the question: should anti-discrimination laws restrict freedom of expression if what is expressed is potentially offensive for some people? .
First of all, we should look at the anti-discrimination laws and learn why they are in place. Anti-discrimination laws are in place in order to reduce the amount of discrimination happening in our society. History has shown us what a huge harm discrimination can do to minorities in our society. In Australia, we have a number of laws in place to minimize discrimination, for example Racial Discrimination Act 1975. Those laws aims to achieve the basic human right: one shall not be treated differently because of his/her race, age or gender. Achieving equality is a very important part in modern civilization and the improvement on this should continuously be our aim.
Secondly, we should take a look at the term "freedom of expression," which is a term appears in many national constitution. Many believes that this term means that everyone can say whatever they likes and will not get punished. In fact, the term "freedom of expression" is misleading and the real meaning of this term is "the right to communicate one's ideas" Moreover, several restrictions are in place, where one named "offence principle" says that the freedom of expression is prohibited when the expression is offensive to society, certain social groups or individuals. Thus, just like most "freedoms" you would enjoy, freedom of speech is restricted in some aspects, and in order for you to enjoy the freedom of your expressions, you must not bypass those restrictions.
