Facebook has recently come under attack for failing to enforce its own guidelines on hate speech and violent imagery. Is it a website’s job to moderate the content users post, or should users have freedom to say what they want? Is there a happy medium? If so, how would you structure it?
Freedom of speech is very important, it is one of the tools that the people can use to keep their government honest and on its toes. Having said that, how far can freedom go? Or better yet, what exactly does freedom of speech mean? What a racist or bigot thinks is acceptable and should be protected under freedom of speech offends me to no end and I would never associate it as speech or something to be protected, but rather something that should never be said because it is so hateful. Yet, who am I to be judge and jury as to what constitutes the parameters of free speech.
Our founding fathers were adamant about the importance of free speech, they enshrined it as the first amendment of our Bill of Rights. I just don’t know what to do about hate speech and how to get around the freedom of speech aspect of it.
I have my own issues with the Huffington Post; they moderate comments for many of their articles and I have had quite a few of my comments withheld by the moderators and I am always at a loss as to why. Those who read my blog on a regular basis know that I don’t use foul language, I don’t say mean or hateful things and I am not one to be judgmental so I get frustrated because I don’t understand why I am being censored. Huffington Post is always on their toes so I don’t understand how Facebook isn’t keeping up with its responsibilities in moderating their content.
I don’t use Facebook to argue or push my opinions onto others; well perhaps I do if you ask a certain person that I grew up with, he is a far right conservative and whenever I share an image regarding C.E.O’s excessive pay packages or the loss of unions, he comments and tells me how wrong I am. He would be of the opinion that I am using Facebook to argue my own agenda which I guess that I am but I don’t do it by using hateful speech.
We can have opposing views, we just need to be respectful of each other’s feelings while we disagree.
laurieanichols 