The internet and community

The beautiful thing about the internet is that it allows everyone the opportunity to find a community that they most belong to. No matter who you are and what you are into, through the internet, you can find like-minded people to connect with. The unfortunate thing about the internet is that anyone can find a sense of community, for ANYTHING. The internet has a home for everyone from pedophiles and abusers to racists and homophobes. 

Shaming people was an effective tool to discourage behaviour that is detrimental to the community without causing any physical harm to the person. It acted as a deterrent so that most people do not entertain the devil on their shoulders long enough to commit an offense that requires punishment from the community. The social norms of the community were meant to accommodate and protect everyone. The internet and social media enable people to bypass those mechanisms from their immediate communities and go find others of similar minds online. 

There are certain communities that should not exist whether in person or online. Rhetoric is one of the most dangerous tools out there and to ignore the harmful capacity of speech is a grave mistake that has had terrible consequences already. Neo Nazis can share their hate speech freely, homophobes reaffirm each other, and xenophobes amplify each other’s voices through retweets, likes, screenshots, and reposts. The extremists are creating groups to gather on the same platforms we share special moments with loved ones and keep up with childhood friends. 

The refusal to police the content shared on open platforms is one born out of fear and that fear is not unfounded. The possibility of allowing tyranny to take root is one that we all should be wary of. However, there are already measures and limitations in place on the internet and I am simply suggesting that we expand them. Social media platforms should be able to flag hate speech and ban those accounts. Adult sites should not have degrading content or content that has harmful undertones. Personal preference has never been and will never be an adequate justification for harmful content. If we can unanimously agree that personal preference is not justification, then surely, we can agree that it is not reason enough for rape-adjacent content. 

The freedom of speech and the freedom of association are not the most important freedoms that people have a right to. The right to life and the right to safety are both easily more important, and if your right to free speech presents a danger to my right to safety, then surely my safety should take precedence. The current rules that we abide by were set in place by a racist, patriarchal, misogynistic and homophobic system that was put in place by a specific group of people who do not necessarily have the best track record of caring for the welfare of other people. We as a society need to rethink certain things and adjust them accordingly. If we are to live in a world that is inclusive and safe for all people, then the rules need to be changed to facilitate that world that we seek. No one has ever given up power so do not expect people to roll over and let you take away their ability to cause harm to others. Aluta continua. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 12, 2020 at 1:46 PM

    Freedom of speech is a very cruel and selfish right todate. It does have some sense of entitlement in other people's livelihoods and imposition of one's views without consideration. You really forcing us to think. Keep us on our toes, I like.

    ReplyDelete

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