Imagine living in a country where your social media is regulated, your posts can be taken down because the government doesn't agree and you can be punished for what you say online. This is the reality for some countries around the world, such as China, but not the United States of America. This may be the results that we will see if we allow the government to regulate what people post on social media.
According to The Guardian, "Forty-nine per cent of people said they would support regulating the targeting of news feeds, search engine results or advertising based on political affiliations or viewpoints, while 51% said they would oppose such regulation". Personally, I am one of the 51% who would oppose this due to it being unconstitutional to rid people of their first amendment (freedom of speech).
There is a lot of hate speech being posted online, but there is also a lot of good messages being spread around social media. The hate speech usually goes viral due to people reposting and commenting about how they are being ignorant. For example, the Pittsburgh synagogue was the "worst massacre of Jews in America" according to Jewish Journal. Jews have been the target of anti-Semitism for a long time.
Many people have written horrid messages about Jewish men and women. This hatred continues on today and people are able to post how they feel. Here is one particular tweet that was hard to read:
More tweets:
Amal Tabel – SJP, U of Houston: “Hitler should have killed the Jews when he had the chance that dog.”
These tweets are disheartening to read, but people should not be regulated by the government on social media. We live in a country where we have the first amendment (freedom of speech). Our first amendment also protects us on social media, within reason. If there is defamation, threatening or admitting to crimes you committed you will be sued or prosecuted. Stating your beliefs without being offensive should be the goal.
We are lucky to live in a country where we can express our feelings and beliefs. Even if these beliefs are proven to be ignorant, racist, and anti-Semitic, people are still granted that right. Even though hatred in this world is prevalent, we should not censor people. It would be unconstitutional to take away that right and violates the first amendment.
There are many messages that people post that support and display personal beliefs without tearing down others. Here is one example on Black Lives Matter:
With government regulation we may not be able to post about what makes us mad about our government, media, and news sources. This twitter user above used her freedom of speech to speak her mind and I support her message. Some people may not agree, but that is their right.
Personally, I believe it is wrong to post hateful comments on social media, but the freedom of speech protects it. I don't want my voice to be shut down if I have a positive opinion or even a disagreement about the government, president, person or a celebrity.
I feel that people should focus on what they are posting before sharing it rather than being regulated by the government. Think before you speak and post and ask yourself "is this appropriate to post? Will I hurt someone's feelings in the process?". We must use our freedom of speech respectfully.
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