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  • Essay / Persuasive Essay on Social Media - 1297

    One of the biggest difficulties we face with such rapid communication is context and culture. What we say here in the United States may not offend us, but it has the potential to offend people in other cultures. Hate speech and offensive language are used constantly here in America. Whether you go to Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, you name it. You will find individuals and groups promoting and advocating something that the majority of people find irrational, disgusting, disturbing and hurtful. However, the problem here is that in the United States we have different morals than, say, Turkey. Here we can say that the United States is terrible and stupid, but in Turkey, if anyone says something controversial against their country's name, they should be fired immediately. Governments dictate what can be said; therefore, freedom of expression is not really a recognized freedom since it is controlled and censored. Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Hanni Fakhoury said that "Twitter makes it easier for people to say things they don't mean seriously and have it spread everywhere" and that "If I say online that I want to kill Obama. It's much harder to gauge how serious I am if I'm standing in front of the White House and have a gun." (NYtimes.com, Robbie Brown). What is the difference between the two and what warrants government intervention in the situation? Twitter is a site where anyone can follow anyone and anyone can post anything. If you told your dad while you were fishing that you wanted an In-N-Out burger right away, he'd say that's too bad. However, if you said I want a hamburger to the cashier at In-N-Out, he would say, "Sure, would you like fries and a drink with that?" It's all about context and, frankly, that's something many governments can't understand.