Freedom for All or Freedom for Non
So, someone I know was telling me how he saw a meme on a person's Facebook profile that he reported to facebook as offensive. Facebook responded back that they reviewed the photo and that it doesn't violate their hate speech and community policies. Really?!
Listen, I don't agree with or respect the idiotic beliefs that the supremacist represented in this drawing follow. They are responsible for some of the most fierce hate and atrocities in our lifetimes. Their actions against those they decided were unequal to them were both violent and evil. To me, They are some of the worst humans to ever have walked the earth. However, since when did the "community standards " in Social Media or any society become okay with any rendition of mass shootings?! The extreme violence used in this drawing exhibits the same extreme hate and prejudices that the people getting shot in the drawing represented. To me, this rendition is not only ironic, it’s vastly hypocritical.
When has an image of a group of people gunning down another group of people not promote hate? A man's head is getting blown off and there are dead, bloody people laying in the background and to the “community standards” this seems to be okay?!
It troubles me that a site like Facebook, which has been known to remove photos of toddlers in pools or bathtubs because they are considered "pornographic" , does not find images representing mass shootings to promote division, hate and violence and somehow does not find it to be offensive
I’ve been finding that this sort of hypocrisy has begun to be more common recently. The “Dukes of Hazzard”, the long time loved television series has been taken off of syndication because of it’s display of the confederate flag on its vehicle. The entire show is gone because SOME people find the flag offensive. Retailers have removed merchandise displaying the flag and anybody that proudly wears or flies the flag are being labeled as racist and supporters of hate and inequality regardless of the historical or symbolic representation, meanwhile we have music being aired constantly over the radio, sold in stores and shared over social media that do nothing but promote violence to each other, women and law enforcement.
They instigate hate and violence and crime but somehow, this does not raise an eyebrow or does not raise it enough to have a campaign to remove or ban it.
Living in the suburbs of Chicago and working daily in the Windy city burrows, I see first hand the violence on the streets. Death toll roundups have gone from a weekend thing to a daily thing. I am a supporter of the #blacklivesmatter movement, however it is hypocritical that the biggest targets against those that take the lives of our American brothers and sisters of African descent are amongst the smallest percentage of those doing the massacring and the biggest percentage of those responsible, which are the urban terrorists that infest this city as well as every other inner city in the country, are being completely ignored. In 2014, there were around 1,029 total people killed by police. Year to date in Chicago alone, there have been 290 homicides and over 1,400 shot and wounded. Again, we find the media, be it local, national or social promoting the smaller percentage but not touching the other. Why? Why is it one opinion is accepted and the other is not? Who decides which is right? Who decides whose rights to deny and who's to allow?
It seems like daily we are told by the government to not judge Islamic followers by the actions of a few religious extremists.
They allows women in drab to not show their faces on driver license. They allow cities in Michigan to air islamic morning prayers on loud speakers that can be heard for miles. They begin to make laws that force employers give followers of the muslim faith breaks so that they can prey. Religious freedoms? however, We are told by the very same government that the followers of Christ are not allowed to display any rendition of their faith publicly. They penalize children for praying privately in school.They ridicule anyone who expresses their Christian faith publically.
They force policies onto followers that are contrary to their religious beliefs and again, the local, national and social media thugs are quick to call those who question or oppose such hypocrisies bigots. zealots or traditionalist. Freedom for some, not for all.
Every day we are faced with uncertainty that by expressing a point of view that is not accepted by the media or the general public, that any slanderous or violent reactions that those opinions may cause are justified. I do think that anybody who publicly expresses an opinion should not only expect a reaction but expect an extremely prejudice one. That’s why the removal of this drawing and other sorts of opinions that I don’t agree with is not what I’m asking for.I believe in a free society. I Also believe that the first amendment should protect people like those who made this meme and their rights to be stupid. What bothers me is the picking and choosing by Social media thugs to decide whose rights to protect and whose not to. The mainstream media, powered by the recent self righteous social media mob were quick to get the Confederate flag banned because it "promotes hate" These people believed that this piece of cloth was responsible in some way for discrimination, racism and hate, but with the very same breath found that this image above does not.
Again, I'm not saying this image should be taken down. I don't agree with it but I do think they have the right to their opinions. I also understand the strong feelings expressed towards both hate groups. however, I do think if facebook is going to suppress any person's rights to free speech in the name of being "peacekeepers" or fighters for "equality" , then at least be fucking consistent and try, for the love of the creator, to not be such big fucking hypocrites! The men doing the shooting in this photo and the men being shot in this photo are one in the same. They both support the spread of hate, division, and violence.
It is true that sites like Facebook and other “Social Media” outlet have the right to remove any posts they feel is offensive but if they really are supporters of equality and peace, then they need to either suppress all language and images that can be considered offensive to anybody or they need to allow it all and let people decide which they do and don’t want to see. I personally think it should be the latter.
Individual freedoms should not be something that can be picked and chosen by a select group of self righteous people, whether it is the mass media, the government or the general public.
If we begin to allow the suppression of thoughts and ideas now, when they are considered to be personally offensive to a select group, then what’s to stop other internet sites or worse what’s to stop sites that have begun to be monitored and influenced by the government to suppress not only speech that can be considered hate to others but speech that can be considered rebellious to their elitist institutions? How long until my posts begin to either be altered by a third party or suppressed altogether?
The First Amendment, the freedoms of speech and expressions are rights that were given to all Americans, even the ones we don’t agree with. The citizens of this great country need to grow a thicker shell. If they decide something to be personally offensive, they need to either confront the perpetrators or decide not to let it bother them. They need to decide once and for all whether they want Freedom for all or freedom for none!!
Don't be afraid.... That ringing you hear in your ears is just a bit of ...
BRAYN NOISE