Norms and responsibilities

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Norms and responsibilities

Lance Evans
I think people should have the absolute freedom to express their opinion on any subject, without fear of being "banned" or "blacklisted" from any social media platform.  It should not matter if the opinion is unpopular, controversial, or if it "offends" anyone. Freedom of Speech should mean EXACTLY that - freedom to express one's own opinion, without censure or consequence.

However, I also feel that this freedom should carry with it the responsibility to justify their thoughts or words, and the responsibility to remain within the boundaries of polite society and common good manners.

For example, I might wish to express the opinion that I do not agree with homosexuality, or the homosexual lifestyle.  I can express that opinion without personally attacking anyone, without making accusations or slurs, and without being directly offensive to anyone.

A person who follows that lifestyle or supports people who do may have cause to disagree with my position or my opinion. And they have the right to disagree with me, as I have the right to disagree with them. That does not give them the right to "attack" me for my opinion, or to tell me that I am wrong, or to ban me from Facebook, Twitter, etc.

If we are ever to overcome our differences in society, we need to learn how to discuss sensitive and difficult topics like lifestyles, religion, politics, etc., without everyone getting offended at everything.  We need to learn how to have difficult discussions without becoming irrational and behaving like children.

One of the greatest benefits to our digital world is the ability to interact with people from a lot of diverse backgrounds, cultures, belief systems, etc., but that ability is nullified if people cannot listen to each other, speak to each other civilly, or exchange ideas without turning into a fight.