What is Freedom Of Speech ?

[Pindar]

I'm probably missing the biggest point on earth but that's why I want views on this. What does "Freedom Of Speech" stand for ? I mean, what practical uses has it contributed towards a more modern society ? Where does it start and end (if it does) ? And, for example, individuals publicly express their ideas of provocation and/or hatred towards the identity of your country/nation, how far is it acceptable? Is it still freedom of speech and subject to being "injudgeable by authorities" ? Is freedom of speech universal or should be redefined among distinct cultures ?

What do you think ?

Hello,

-Freedom of Speech is fundamentally a political act.
-The practical use is to serve as a demonstrative limit on the power of the government.
-It starts and ends with the legislative process meaning: the citizenry determine the boundaries and those boundaries remain amenable to the same. This applies from the passage of constitutional provisions to local jurisdiction.
-Provocative speech, dispisal of the government and/or national self loathing is traditionally acceptable up to actually advocacy of armed overthrow of the state insofar as the state is a representative organ.

-Proponents of democracy typically see the base notion of free speech as a universal insofar as a person is not entirely identified by his or her citizenry and is thereby naturally empowered irrespective of the state. Even so, the particular parameters of expression may be defined by the legislative process noted above.