4 ms·

Self-censorship is fail. Being compelled to self-censor is double fail. Neither has a place in a free society.

• meepmorp 15y ago
  Self-censorship is a cornerstone of human social behavior. Even if I think you're a complete asshole, it's often neither necessary nor appropriate for me to say that, or even hint at it. More or less all of us do this. it's called choosing one's words. Facebook is another modality of human speech. At first, we spoke and things lived in the minds of listeners alone, or to those to whom the words were related. Then, with writing, we could record words durably, and any who could read and had access to the text could know what we say. Now what we say is durable and trivially disseminated to thousands, perhaps millions. By all means, speak your mind. But consider first if you want what you have to said known by all possible recipients of the speech, and if you're wiling to deal with all consequences thereof. Edit: none of which is to say that forcing people to divulge passwords for or the content of social media for employment purposes is remotely ok. It's not.
• r00fus 15y ago
  Why is not using Facebook on grounds that it's effectively "public" considered self-censorship?
  • rbarooah 15y ago
    If it was "effectively public", there wouldn't be any issue with people being compelled to show their pages to their employers.
• keithpeter 15y ago
  It isn't clear to me that my choice not to have a Facebook account is any form of self-censorship. If this classroom assistant had simply sent her funny photo to friends using e-mail, perhaps we would not be reading about it? I do think some kind of privacy protection is needed, in Europe we have some laws, but they are not perfect.