Soapbox

A soapbox ( German soap box ) is an improvised platform for a speaker under the sky. Especially in England, the word is also used metaphorically for the right to free speech. The London Hyde Park is known for the held in the local Speakers' Corner since 1872 Sunday sermons, which originally had mainly religious themes to the content.

The right also about other controversial subjects to speak freely, has been established in several partially heated arguments and is now regarded as a central aspect of British political culture. Some attempts to set this up in Germany, failed what Erhard Eppler attributed with citing Carl Gustav Jochmann on the supremacy of the written language, the lecture and the lecturing style in Germany compared to the orally dominated Anglo-Saxon public debate culture and jurisdiction.

A modern form of "Soap Boxing" are blogs and other websites where users publish their own thoughts.

Historical example

During the election campaign to the British general election in 1992 succeeded the leading conservative candidate John Major to avert a Soapboxkampagne the election victory seemed to be sure of Neil Kinnock's Labour Party in Britain. While Labour relied on professional campaign productions, Major operating an intensive street campaign with a variety of classic Soapboxauftritten, which earned him the election because his campaign was perceived as more authentic and honest than his opponent.