To speak freely, or not to speak freely… that is the question
Shawn Domingues
The Signal
Americans strongly believe and readily fight for their right to freedom of speech. The Supreme Court has been inundated with cases that involve free speech on the internet and whether or not our First Amendment rights are violated when censorship of any kind occurs online in what we consider to be public forums… our Facebook pages, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.
In the age of cyber-bullying on social media sites and with cases involving libel crowding our court systems, it is important to understand exactly what our right to free speech means, and what speech is actually protected.
The First Amendment basically covers our right to speak freely without interference by the government; it does not, however protect us from being censored by private entities.
Most social media websites are privately owned and reserve the right to remove any content they find inappropriate, although it is difficult for them to police every word that is written on their websites.
Generally, you can get away with using vulgar language and posting questionable content on your own Facebook page; so the question isn’t really can we say whatever we want online… but should we.
As college students at UHCL, we are getting closer to entering the workforce, so it might be time to re-evaluate our current level of professionalism online. Employers have been known to look at the Facebook pages of prospective employees and having a questionable online presence might be the deciding factor in whether or not we get the job.
After completing hours of college credit, shouldn’t we have improved our writing and critical thinking skills to the point that we are able to express ourselves without having to use profanity?
Shouldn’t we be able to articulate our viewpoints and defend ourselves without being overly offensive?
Now is the time for us to start behaving like professionals, maybe even do some self-censorship and delete anything from our social media pages that might damage our professional image.
Think… before you update your status, post any pictures, or upload a video on Youtube, how it might affect your future. Is it “selling out” to suppress your freedom of expression, or is it just smart?
