Something happened on Facebook yesterday, at some of the sites I am a member of on the social networking service.
It is worth talking about.
It revolves around some complaints people have had about a recent Blu-ray release. What the release in question was really isn't important to the discussion we are going to have here, but that was its starting point.
Many people were unhappy with how it was released, and they were going on and on and on about how bad it was, and the complaints continued, for some, to the breaking point.
So the administrator put up a message related to the preponderance of complaints about this Blu-ray release, but included in her message this one point, which I think needs to be examined here. I certainly took her to task for it on Facebook:
"Although free speech isn't a right on [this site] (or any facebook group) ... ."
Oh really ... ?
Yes, I am taking this completely out of context--the poster actually said that the dissemination of ideas was a good thing on her sites--but since when isn't free speech a right that we enjoy not only in our lives as Americans, but on something as overall minor as Facebook truly is?
What she meant to say is that the "abuse" of free speech on the particular site or on any "facebook" group isn't a right ... but to say that free speech isn't a right on Facebook?
C'mon, if she believes that, she is missing the point of Facebook entirely.
As it stands now, the point of Facebook is to voice your views on various topics, themes and ideas, even if they are very pedestrian, like commenting on this video release.
People don't have to agree with anything you have to say, and that is their right as much as it is to post your own views on things.
I brought this all up to the administrator, who would not back down on her original comment.
I explained to her that as a fellow Facebook site administrator, on a few occasions I have also had to police my sites, so I knew what she meant to say, but she didn't say it.
In fact, I used myself as an example.
I told her that I was disagreeing with what she said, and that, in itself, is my own opinion about her comment, and thus, I was exercising free speech.
However, if I told her that I disagreed with her and used every four-letter word in the book and used other threatening language, then yes, I was abusing my free speech rights, and yes, she could remove my message and even remove me from her site.
I find that Facebook is a strange place, with very few rules.
You can say what you want to say, which is free speech, but often, even if you say things in an intelligent manner, some people are going to take you to task-- which is fine.
But many people take what you say personally, and thus, take it to another level.
They clearly do not understand why Facebook even exists, and Facebook, itself, has had problems understanding what is permissible and what isn't.
It has been accused of fanning the terrorist flames by not watching certain sites for incendiary views, and it has been accused of not working with authorities to ban these sites and posters.
Is it a free speech issue if a poster puts up that he wants to get rid of certain people in this world? Is that incendiary enough to warrant a ban?
But here, we are talking about a mere Blu-ray discussion that some people on a few of the administrator's sites believe has gotten out of hand.
But the administrator believes they have no free speech rights when they are on her site or on Facebook in general?
No, I thoroughly have to disagree with that.
As long as the banter is civil and not personal, they have not abridged anyone's free speech rights, including their own.
If their tone goes into the gutter, that is when the administrator has to step in and see to it that this type of behavior does not continue.
That is what the woman meant to say; she didn't; but she refuses to admit that her own use of words was incorrect.
Our forefathers fought for free speech for all citizens, and to this day, it is a topic that is put under the microscope.
But on something as benign--but potentially dangerous--as Facebook is, I will be damned if I am going to give up my free speech rights because someone has declared that I don't have any when I am on that site.
The abuse of free speech is the question here, and there is a great difference between exercising free speech and abusing that right.
And unfortunately, the administrator does not see that there is quite a difference between the two, quite a difference, indeed.
What an impassioned essay! Unfortunately it is based on a factually incorrect premise. Before you get yourself banned from the forum in question....the First Amendment freedom of speech that you revere applies solely to government action that would shut down opposing viewpoints. You have no guaranteed freedom of speech on a Facebook forum, the owner of said forum has every right to censor your opinions. Your recourse, if you don't like their censorship, is to open your own forum. This isn't opinion, it's fact. You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. In more concrete terms: it's the difference between "The Yankees are a baseball team" and "The Yankees are a bush league baseball team that should be banned from the major leagues." And if I wrote that on your wall, you could either argue with me (e.g., "The Yankees are the best team in baseball") or you could delete my post. i have a right to express my opinion, but I have no right to do so on your Facebook page. And the administratior on your forum has the right to delete any expression of opinion she finds offensive. Your opinion -- that she shouldn't do it -- doesn't mean that anyone has the right to self expression on a Facebook forum she controls.
ReplyDeleteYes, she has a right to delete anything she wants on her own forum, but to say that there is no freedom of speech on Facebook is just plain wrong. That is the reason for Facebook's very being. Sure, I can say, "The Yankees are a great team," and people can argue with me, and the administrator can delete my post is that is what the administrator wants to do. But I have a right to put up that post, to agree or disagree (or "like") any post, and to voice my own viewpoint. Yes, the ultimate arbiter is the site administrator, but unless the poster is doing it in a rude or incendiary way, why would any administrator take down a post voicing an opinion? Yes, on my own sites, I have had to remove a few posts and ban a few people, but believe me, I must not have a thin a skin as others, because I have let plenty go, in particular during the time when I was helping to organize my community reunion a few years back. Many of those posts were incendiary, attacking my very being, and I let many of them go, and yes, I did remove a few. Facebook exists as a virtual podium, where you can basically say what you want to say as long as you don't cross over the line with language or by threatening others. To say that there is no freedom of speech on the site simply is not true, but I guess that depending on the site, some people regulate what is said more than others. "Regulation" and "not having freedom of speech" are two very different things, and I don't think that this administrator in question understands that.
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