I'm not a huge fan of traditional media sources-- I don't care if it's FOX, CNN, KARE, conservative or liberal, they all have their biases. Generally, my first news notifications come from Facebook where (most of the time) the content of my feed is not filtered to work in the interests of a company, lobby, political party, etc. This means that I'm getting my first taste of news and current events from people just like myself who are practicing their right to freedom of speech. While this is generally a pretty reliable method for staying connected to the world around me (with the additional help of fact-checked, third-party sources, of course) lately I've been pretty disappointed. Instead of reading enthusiastic and productive content, recently I've scrolled through massive amounts of criticism directed at both police officers and protesters.

It would be one thing if the criticism was productive and well thought out-- analysis and the occasional criticism is good because it means we're using our brains-- but lately what I've been seeing is nothing more than careless slandering with no regard for the people who are the focus of the criticism. It makes sense that a lot of people are angry, upset, and emotional in response to the social-political climate of the U.S.-- it's no secret that our country is facing some massive issues at the moment-- however the situation is so much more complicated that most Facebook critics care to make it.

People have become so extremely polarized on the issues of racism and police violence that "the other" is constantly and blatantly being dehumanized and threatened. There have been WAY too many incidents of police violence against people of color-- black men, in particular-- in the U.S. in the last year. In my opinion, denying the systemic racism in this country is as foolish and ignorant as denying climate change. However, this does not warrant such assertions as: "Cops are all pigs. Get rid of the police," or "The Dallas police officers deserved a taste of their own medicine." Both of these statements were made by Facebook friends of mine and are downright hateful and disgusting. And, unfortunately, these kinds of statements are far from rare.

On the flip side of the comments above (and in testimony to the polarization I mentioned) are the people ranting about protesters and the Black Lives Matter movement. I've read far too many comments about how the protesters should simply be run over by a car-- many of my Facebook friends have even claimed that they would do it themselves. Really? You'd drive through a crowd of human beings-- harming and killing some of them-- just because you find their peaceful protest "annoying" or "inconvenient"? I'm just going to assume that I don't need to explain further why those sorts of comments are atrocious and terrifying.

Because of websites like Facebook, people are able to publish and post their thoughts in an instant. Those thoughts are then shared with hundreds, if not thousands, of people, and those people react to and interact with the content that they are receiving. Although this social media content isn't exactly tangible, it is certainly real. The things that we see and read on the internet affect what we think, how we feel, and sometimes even how we act. It seems to me that Facebook would be especially powerful in this way as the content we receive is coming from a lot of our friends, family, and close peers-- people whose thoughts and opinions certainly carry more meaning than that of a stranger. And yet, why are some people sharing hurtful and threatening things as if they are faceless and everyone else is a stranger?

I think it's time that people realize the power of words-- more importantly, the power of their own words. All of us in this country have been granted the right to freedom of speech, and that is truly a blessing. However, we should not take that right for granted. In past civilizations and today's contemporary societies alike, millions of people have been censored and silenced-- kept from sharing their voices with the world. Generally, this happens because one group of people has control and wants to keep that control so they silence anyone who deviates from them. They do this because (drum roll please...) words have POWER!

Each of us-- whether we consider ourselves writers or not-- has the power to influence and affect people around us with our words. And with that power comes responsibility. It might be easy to post a pissed off rant on Facebook, and maybe it will release some stress and anger (because writing can indeed be therapeutic), but that is not responsibly using the right to free speech. The words we publish online should be thought out and analyzed instead of just vomited onto a keyboard and haphazardly posted to social media feeds.

We have a responsibility to each other to use our right to free speech to build people up, not tear them down. If you are pro-police, then positively support police officers with your words. If you are pro-BLM (Black Lives Matter), then positively support the movement with your words. And-- here's a crazy thought-- if you are pro-police and pro-BLM (because, hello, the two are not mutually exclusive) then positively support both groups with your words. It is indeed possible to build up a group or a movement without slandering and tearing down another, but it takes a certain level of humanity that is often times lacking in our social media content. Being responsible with our right to freedom of speech means thinking, analyzing, sympathizing, and breaking down the barrier between ourselves and "the other". Only when we begin to care for this "other" as our fellow human being-- a thinking, feeling, loving, caring human being-- will we be able to responsibly use our right to free speech.