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Comments and Censorship

Page history last edited by Jared Tayco 4 years, 10 months ago

Comments & Censorship

 

John D. Thomas

June 3, 2011

https://www.digitalethics.org/essays/comments-censorship

 "#censorship"  

First Impression:

When it comes to the modern era nowadays. comments are part of life, but honestly though even if we are following the right of free speech, a little self-control and censorship is in order, because after all, one doesn't know if one's comment could be a spark to a flame that is representing disaster.

 

Quote: 

"Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive."

 

Reflection Proper: 

Every word online counts, in my opinion. Every word one types and post online is a spark to something else, whether to something hilarious, tragic, or serious. Same goes for comments, as it's one way to express what one thinks of a certain subject in mind. Nowadays though, with free speech in mind, man is always letting loose in what he or she is typing online, and thus comments with the occasional swear words, or racist talk or anything rude, pops by from time to time. In other words, this proves a saying, "Words are more powerful than the sword", and frankly nowadays, thanks to technology and the Internet, they are. For instance, according to the article, there was one specific article about Anderson Cooper and Melissa Etheridge each appearing in Broadway shows, and it had a bizarre and very long string of user comments that had a lot of awful racist jokes. Once they are posted, they were filled with the "N" word (curse word for black people), then it had been "cleaned up" by a CNN employee who spent long hours changing that word to "black" in order to make the jokes sound palatable. Honestly though, in my opinion, and I agree with the author of the essay article that this sort of thing is more offensive than the awful jokes themselves, because one, racism is really better in the open, face-to-face, where one can see it, engage then fight over it, and secondly, changing the comments themselves is a violation of free speech for it's basically altering someone's personal opinions, and thirdly, this sort of thing, making hate speech go underground, or changing it around, is even more dangerous. So, based from this article, hopefully people would be more careful with the comment sections, for they are one of the many places in the Internet that engages user, create advertising inventory and not to mention becoming the cornerstones of creating a virtual community ,and words are truly powerful than the sword.

 

5 Things Learned From Article: 

 

  1. I learned that comments section engage users, create advertising inventory and are the cornerstones of building virtual community.

  2. I learned about the fact that comments create such a butterfly effect.

  3. I learned about censorship being a critical issue until today especially when it comes to online articles.

  4. I learned that the difference between profanity, obscenities or spiteful remarks and strong opinions and criticism.

  5. I learned that free speech nowadays should be entitled to an amount of self-control nowadays when it comes to comments.

 

5 Integrative Questions:

 

  1. How do comment sections become the cornerstones of building virtual community?

  2. What could be the after-effect of one's comment thread?

  3. How does censorship and free speech become intertwined?

  4. What's the difference between certain types of comments?

  5. How do one keeps free speech in moderation in the online world?

 

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