Recently, the Internet and my social media newsfeeds have been filled with opinions. This is not surprising, in light of all of the terrible news that has been making headlines: the deadly terrorist attack in Paris, bombings in Beirut, and racism running rampant on campuses such as Yale and the University of Missouri, to name a few big ones. I have seen support for the victims of these injustices and tragedies on social media, as well as vehement discouragement and opposition toward them. This has been sparking debates and passionate and/or ignorant posts about loaded topics like racism, refugees, terrorism, and international policies in the political arena of our country’s most brilliant minds, Facebook. One that really took me off guard me was a post from someone my own age. This person posted a posted a photo of the twin towers burning on 9/11 and captioned it something to the effect of, "since when did we go from hating Muslims to giving them refuge in our country?" Needless to say, it was one of the more ignorant posts I've encountered in my personal newsfeed. This experience brought to mind a discussion that is extremely relevant in our world today, especially now: the impact of the way we exercise our free speech.
This can be a touchy subject. On one hand, one of the great things about American democracy is that we have the constitutional right to say and write pretty much whatever the hell we want and not go to jail, barring some exceptional circumstances. On the other hand, when an unfavorable, extreme, or (sorry, not sorry) just downright stupid opinion is voiced, people get argumentative and upset about it because it might be oppressive, offensive, or ignorant, as was reflected in the Facebook post that prompted me to write this article. Expressions like this are often referred to as hate speech.
The term ‘hate speech’ is loosely defined as any form of expression that incites some form of hatred based on race, gender, religion, sexuality, or any other trait, especially when the expression is likely to provoke violence. Even though it is legally defined, the fact is, unless it is deemed ‘fighting words’ (A.K.A. a direct threat to someone else’s life) it is just as protected by the Constitution as anything else.
From a moral standpoint, however, there is most definitely a line that can be crossed that separates using free speech in a constructive way and in an aggressive way. I personally believe that there is a big difference between having an opinion that others might deem unfavorable and being totally ignorant. The difference is being able to make a clear-cut, factual argument, versus making a statement in totally bad taste or solely rooted in hatred. The majority of these distasteful posts that I’ve seen fit into the latter of those two categories.
Just because something is written on a computer does not make the sentiment behind it hollow. Social media has become a mainstream way that we communicate, and a post can carry just as much weight as any other face-to-face conversation you may have. To the people who make posts like these– yes, you have every legal right to exercise your free speech, but you are posting to a social forum that is accessed by people of all different backgrounds, races, religions, and orientations. Know your audience. Know that anything you post has some sort of impact, no matter how small. Know that hate speech is real. And know that even though you’re exercising your free speech, your public displays of bigotry have painted an ugly picture of the person behind the keyboard.
