| | | Hillary Clinton: We need to redefine what free speech means
Chedoh
5/24/2015, 1:04 pm
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Hillary Clinton released an announcement over Memorial Day weekend on her Facebook page, saying that what we may think of as "free speech" can be hurtful towards other Americans, and we should put more effort into monitoring what we and others say to avoid painful dialogues, especially on the Internet.
"There is a problem in this country when people, mostly right-wing bigots, can easily inflict pain and suffering on others with hurtful words and objections against alternative lifestyles and political stances. You often see it on Facebook and other forms of social media, where they are constantly spewing hate and intolerance. I wish I could tell you just how many times I've read mean-spirited posts about me on the Internet, and I can assure you that when I become President, things like that will no longer be allowed to happen. I already have a list of people, thousands of names, who will feel my righteous wrath when I take office."
It remains unclear how exactly the 2016 presidential hopeful is planning to "redefine" free speech.
Soon after Mrs. Clinton's comment was posted, it sparked so much controversy and it was quickly removed from her timeline, but this didn't stop the flood of approving comments from page followers, most of whom used Clinton's 'H' logo as their profile picture.
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Many conservatives were "shocked" by how quickly Clinton supporters turned to calling for violence towards those who voiced criticism of the Democratic presidential hopeful. Some comments went as far as demand that cartoonists who drew Hillary Clinton be imprisoned for blasphemy and executed, or else they should expect attacks on their offices.
Within minutes of the original Facebook post, Mrs. Clinton and her staff had to disable comments on her page due to the overwhelming enthusiasm of her supporters demanding arrests, public lashings, and executions of those who slander the name of Hillary Clinton.
Clinton's opponents, who expressed their objections to the violent outbursts on her Facebook page, were bombarded with unending replies containing threats and insults, which implied that angered Hillary supporters knew their real names and where they lived.
In one example, an elderly woman from Louisiana who expressed her criticism of Hillary Clinton with a one-word comment, "Distrustful," had Clinton supporters go to her Facebook page, retrieve names and photographs of the woman's grandchildren, and use that information to threaten her with violence through personal messages.
Complaints about online violent threats and bullying in connection with a presidential candidate had Secret Service take down the names of Facebook users who were critical of Clinton. Some of them were contacted personally and had all their electronic equipment removed, while others were placed under close observation.
Following its own guidelines against online bullying and threatening comments, Facebook staff suspended online accounts of conservative users whose posts contained criticism of Hillary Clinton until the issue is fully investigated. The tentative completion date of the investigation was named as next Tuesday of November, 2016. |
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