Is freedom of speech always good?

Don't like to speak in absolutes.
This is always wrong or right.
Everything is relative.
Isn't it?
So this so called right of free speech is always our top priority?
Only sometimes.
During war "Loose lips sink ships" .
So freedom of speech is curtailed heavily.
Our economic boom times are wholly dependant on China both in it's hunger for our raw materials and it's ability to produce incredibly cheap goods.
Nearly everything I own is made in China.
Probably most things everyone has are.
Read this story about a family who tried to survive without any thing made there.
But thirty years ago very little was coming out of China.
At school we taught of the terrible population explosion that would ruin the world and make a lot of people starve.
And what a hopeless case India and China were.
But both countries curbed their growing populations.
Something no western country has ever tried to do.
Peasants who would of had many children were forced to have only one or two.
Which meant that they could be educated instead of being sent to work in the fields.
This would never happen in an open society.
India which is the worlds largest democracy had the "Emergency" where civil rights were suspended and men were forcibly sterilized.
No western politician would even mention population control, not even The Greens.
The press would eat them alive.
It's an impossible sell.
But without enormous in puts from fossil fuels our planet can really only support a couple of billion people.
So the crunch will come eventually.
I of course am a complete hypocrite in this regard as I have three ankle biters to add to my footprint.
I could be accused of listening to our beloved treasurer who said have one for each parent and one for Australia.
Who said I'm perfect?