There is a local station that had a headline called “Banned By Facebook” and to tease the segment they had a tweet from someone who felt the restrictions Facebook put on something was an attack on his free speech. Really? When did Facebook become someone's personal forum that was obliged to print anything someone posted?

I have seen a few articles in the past month talking about how Facebook and Twitter are becoming the soap boxes for Americans and the concern about privacy policies and other restrictions put on by the companies. I guess you have to call someone like me old fashioned in that regard because I don't think of Facebook and Twitter as the only way I can get my voice across. This is very similar to what I've seen of participation in public service the past two years. Public service used to mean going out physically and helping people, maybe calling on a telethon or something and donating money. Now, to feel like you've done something, people just log onto twitter and retweet something, feeling they have done their part, or they may click the Like button on Facebook and think their duty have been fulfilled. In all honestly nothing has been done. There is no effort in it, no sense of really doing anything. One click and you feel good.

Most years when I'm at Comicon I will go into a seminar where a famous writer will talk about their trials and tribulations trying to get published, and for the past 10 years I've heard the same question and answer at every one. Someone in the audience will ask how do they get published, the writer will give the standard answer about sending manuscript into publishers but they will also mention this wonderful thing called the internet. They give the easiest answer for budding writers, which is start a blog or build a website. When a writer says this, you would think they said to jump off a bridge with a frayed bungee cord. The concept of writing a blog, of doing what it is they say comes natural to them, doesn't register. They are stuck in thinking of a certain way of doing things and they can't wrap their brain around a different way.

Facebook and Twitter do not hinder free speech. They are companies that allow people to talk, and with that they are gatekeepers. They can decide to impose rules and regulations because they are owned by someone else. It's very similar to talk show hosts like Laura Schlesinger and Keith Olbermann. Both were taken off the air for different reasons and in Dr. Laura's case she was quick to claim her free speech was being violated, yet she worked for a company that put her on the air. Just like Olbermann learned, without the whining, all you do when you are blocked by a corporation is start your own blog or website. It's fairly easy (I do it) and you can get your point across uncensored.

What I think people mean when they talk about the free speech infringement is they want to have the ease and possible built in audience you get with Facebook or Twitter. To me that falls again to the inability of taking a situation and using it to your advantage. Both Facebook and Twitter allow you to link to external sites, so simply saying hey I have a blog and here's a link to what I just posted will allow someone to see what you have to say without having the supposed restrictions of the companies. Now I know someone like the man who wrote to the station about his free speech being violated might think it is too much work to set up a website, I say too bad. Stop thinking of a work around as a barrier. Think of the recent incidents in the Middle East. The governments there were shutting down the internet yet people found a way around the barriers and frankly they weren't that difficult to get around.

As I was putting this together they had another promo for the Banned By Facebook segment and it was very funny. One person said he felt like he was dead when his account was closed. Another group of people felt 'violated' not being able to talk to their friends. Maybe those sound bites were just exaggerated to get the attention of potential viewers but I find it sad that people think of those sites as the only way of communicating to the outside world, and it makes me feel like the writers who can't think of new ways of getting their material out.


<< PREVIOUS
NEXT >>

Copyright © Chaotic Fringe LLC. All rights reserved.

Freedom of Speech Is Not Through Facebook - February 28, 2011
Home | News | Entertainment | Blog | Podcast | IMVN | Everquest 2 | Links | Photos | V-Blog