I feel compelled to write this, although it will be my last post on the subject (for a good while anyway).
Today, I told somebody I know that an anonymous person on the net had left a very long hideous comment on my blog, which ended thus: āIf you have children, I hope they ALL die VERY slowly so YOU can watch them and SUFFERā. This was in response to my Caitlyn Jenner post.
Now, obviously this can only come from a mentally deranged person because, WHO in their right mind would ever say such a thing? I read the whole hateful comment twice (I know, I know) and deleted it. It goes without saying it was never going to make it onto the blog but it did make me feel very uncomfortable reading it. It came from the US, so it wasn’t as if there was an immediate threat ā nevertheless, it shook me up a bit to have so much hate directed at me, even if it was from across the pond.
However, what shocked me more was my aforementionedĀ friendās reaction when I told him about it today.
Word for word, this is what he said: āIām sorry the trolls have been bombarding you, but you shouldnāt be so opinionated about such things thenā.
I was aghast. Basically, what he was saying was this: āYou donāt deserve it, butā¦actually, you doā.
That is something I cannot understand and will not accept. To me, thatās like saying that the journalists from Charlie Hebdo murdered in cold blood in Paris back in January deserved their fate because they were also ātoo opinionatedā. Note that Iām well aware that the fact I got someĀ hateful comments cannot be compared with an assassination, obviously. But there is a definite correlation there which is: as long as you express an opinion, there is always a risk and you canāt really complain about the consequences or whatever comes your way as a result. So, freedom of speech truly doesnāt exist then – and it’s entirely normal and logical that some peopleĀ should wish a slow death on any hypothetical children I may have, just because I said that Caitlyn Jenner’s photo shoot was a “vanity project”.
My blog is small, Iām not a power blogger and this blog is my own little place to write about anything I feel like: a place where I can play and indulge my obsession with words, a place where I can express myself freelyĀ because there are no expectations, as I do not get paid for the writing I do on here. My views and opinions are not even controversial, so I donāt understand how somebody I know could think that Iām too opinionated and that I only have myself to blame if some deranged mind decides to leave heinous comments on my blog.
I have said it ad nauseam, but I truly donāt mind anybody disagreeing with me, as long as they do it intelligently and can sustain a real discussion. But,Ā in any case, because I write on a public blog, I expect some people to pipe up and tell me that they think Iām wrong. I even expect others to tell me Iām stupid, or jealous, or a hater (Iāve had that too in the last few days). I can even handle pure hate as in that comment I got yesterday. All of this, I can understand and I can cope with, because this is what happens when you put yourself out there, on a public site, even if itās only a small one – some trolls are always going to be able to find you, unfortunately.
But that somebody I know, somebody who is meant to be a friend (and more or less sensible) should imply that I can’tĀ really complain about the hateful comments because I’m “too opinionatedā, that I find hard to handle.
If people that are meant to be close to me think that way, is it any surprise that a couple of religious fanatics should feel justified to go into a Paris office and proceed to execute journalists for expressing opinions?
This unexpected responseĀ from my friendĀ made me realise, once again,Ā that itās not just religious fanatics and deranged human beings who donāt seem to grasp the concept of freedom of speech, itās also ordinary people: like your friend, your neighbour, an acquaintance ā itās a hell of a lot of people actually. Does this fact upset anyone else? Because it sure does upset me.
If anybody has time (and is willing) to read the post I wrote a month ago about Freedom of speech, you can do so so here
Image credit:rs21.org.uk, paperblog.com and Izquotes.com
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