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It's hard for Americans to understand how different life can be in other parts of the world. The arrest and torture of an American citizen in Saudi Arabia should be a reminder of how some nations view free speech.
According to his son, Saad Ibrahim Almadi -- an American citizen and retired project manager living in Florida -- was arrested almost a year ago while visiting family in Saudi Arabia. His son says he was not only arrested, but tortured and eventually sentenced to 16 years in prison, for doing what many Americans do almost daily -- he publicly criticized the government.
If the same standards were in place here, half the country would be in jail.
But they are not. We are free here to express our opinions. While that does not, of course, mean freedom from the consequences of voicing our opinions, particularly those laden with hate speech, it certainly means what happened to Almadi would not happen here.
Our speech is protected; we should remember to not take it for granted, and we should not abuse it.