If you spend any time on the internet at all–or perhaps if you’ve just glanced at it out of the corner of your eye, once– you’ve probably noticed that people are very, very attached to freedom of speech. The internet is the wild west for modern times, a place where people feel free from the stifling confines of real life, and who greet any perceived attack on their freedoms with a loud defense of free speech.
The only problem is, most of them have absolutely no idea what that really means.
Free speech is great. It’s wonderful. I’m a big fan. The government should not be able to tell you what you can and can’t say (barring, of course, actual threats, stalking/harassment, or things like yelling fire in a crowded theater) and they don’t. They are not the internet telling people what to say or do, and no one in this country is in any danger of being hauled off to the local FBI field office because they said something mean about their Senator on a website.
But websites are privately owned. They are owned by companies and like any other gathering place, they have rules. Depending on the site, these rules may be as lax as they can legally be (which basically boils down to, don’t post child porn) and they can be incredibly strict (requring moderation of all comments, no off topic comments, no gramatically incorrect comments) but most sites fall somewhere in the middle ground. Don’t attack people, don’t use hate speech, don’t spam or post porn.
Yet every time moderators remove a comment, the cry rises up. DOWN WITH CENSORSHIP.
It’s not censorship. It’s not about political ideals, or someone’s position on any given issue. It’s about creating a space where people can have a discussion, where it doesn’t devolve into the mire that the internet so easily creats; a thick, impenatrable soup of mudslinging, personal attacks, and some of the most vile hate speech people dare to say. It’s possible to make a point without going after other people on the site, without using derogatory slurs and stereotypes.
It’s not about stifling freedom, it’s about opening that freedom to everyone and not handing the soapbox to a few bullies. And if you’re still looking for a place to freely express yourself with no restrictions at all, well…you can always start your own forum. But remember. With great freedom comes great responsibility. That’s what the internet seems to have forgotten.