Censorship: to prevent hate or to protect the haters?
In recent news, the Charlottesville attack has been all over the internet. People are using social media to address the event. While I think that it is a good source for information, the internet is open to the public. In media studies, this internet space is called the public sphere. According to Christian Fuchs, in Social Media: A Critical Introduction, the public sphere is predominantly full of ideas by white and rich men. The private sphere, on the other side of the spectrum, includes the rest of the people’s opinions: women, gays, lesbians, people of color, etc.
I came across a Twitter account where this user uses his social media platform of choice to post details about the people who participated in the rally. In my opinion, it is alright to voice your opinion all you want on the internet. Seeing as I feel like it is impossible to meet in the middle anywhere with this conflict about censoring content on the internet, I think it is better to allow everyone to have the right to voice their opinions. But is it right to expose these people’s private information? Because as this is happening, some are losing their jobs and might end up not finding a new one.
On the other side, people are saying that these people are adults and chose to be at the rally and should face consequences. And about the fact that we as citizens have the freedom to say what we want, well, we should draw the line here. People who attended the Charlottesville rally are not only voicing their opinion but they are hurting others, as in a particular group of people. The constitution may say that we have the right to speak upon anything and are protected, but again, that piece of paper was written a gazillion years ago.
