HOHIMER

Here is my take on today’s Free speech and Social/Mass Media conundrum.

First. The phrase ‘Free speech’, as used in the Constitution, should not be interpreted to mean you can, with complete immunity at any time, say anything you like that is derogatory or slanderous about another person or engage in ad hominem character assassination without expecting some sort of remuneration. If you call another person’s mother ‘a swoll'nan odoriferous dog face soldier pony, with knobby knees’, you should anticipate justifiable negative feedback in kind, or more.

Free speech means you may express your feelings, ideas, understandings and opinions openly and freely during public discourse without the expectation of unwarranted retribution as long as your words are not calumniatorly salacious toward another person’s character. This is unobjectionable even if the things you say are not demonstrable or if they are inconsistent with the currently accepted popular dialog, understanding or practice; as long as you allow others ample unimpeded equal opportunity to react concomitantly to what you have said. Free speech must have the elements of timely reciprocity and scrutiny, if it is to be considered, in any way, equitable and nondiscriminatory.

The problem with today’s social/mass media is it allows all types of nefarious expressions to be propagated surreptitiously without the benefit of timely face-to-face interchange and examination regardless of the validity of the statements. Plus, the fact, once the words are uttered or documented, they exist for all time. They never go away nor become revised, modified or removed even when the original concept has been vetted and found to be implausible, unsubstantiated or untrue. Even in cases where the original poster has become enlightened and now no longer supports their original stated premise; the abrogated words still remain.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

Example being look how many folks post a reply IMMEDIATELY before even reading at least a couple of the replies... Gotta get their 2 cents in there right away...

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Interesting.
I've had discussions with my friends on FB about various subjects. I don't "friend" anyone who just comes along.
I only see what my friends post and what various people post on forums I'm following or joined.
Maybe the majority of people on FB don't don't care for lengthy discussions?
However, all my friends have very various interests, unlike <mostly> everyone at UHH having the same interest.
FB is "general" in its population's interests, UHH is "specific" (specialized).
SLIGHT difference.....

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Oh yes.....

ecblackiii Loc: Maryland

I agree and have terminated relationship with social media accounts (which are selling your personal information). The worst problem with social media is that the internet is anonymous. You don't really know with whom you are communicating, and anonymity removes any possibility of the consequences of providing false information. So, with no consequences of bad behavior, bad behavior rules!

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

Bad behavior does NOT rule ALL of social media... If you spend time on say the FB main feed ,you will get a lot of garbage etc... But myself, I belong to about 30 SPECIAL interest groups which sometimes are not totally troll free but there are more than enough SERIOUS people interested in whatever that special interest group offers... You can't play IDENTITY social media any more than the morons that play IDENTITY politics... HOW are older folks supposed to interact with like minded folks if maybe they have mobility or transportation problems...?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I might belong to a dozen or so groups on FB.
Some of those groups might get spam posts, but I report the spam to the forum admin, then the posts go away.
There is no "bad behavior" from people on my friends list, which I restrict to people I know.
It's a great way for me to keep in touch with my friends, especially the ones in other locations, like where i used to live. And of course family.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I would not be on FB at all, but I ran a farm.

I had a website for the farm where I put useful information for customers.

I hired High School kids for field work. Most of them were excellent workers. The ones who weren't interested in the work weeded themselves out. One kid decided the farm needed a Facebook page so he made one. Eventually he grew old and left High School for college. So trying to keep up the FB page was too much for him so he made me an administrator of the page. But to do that I needed a personal page so I signed up.

Eventually I learned that both the website and the FB page were useful for the business. The website has constant information. Location, phone#, what we grow, hours, maps, a few customer reviews, things like that. It might require updating at the beginning and end of the season or if something changed significantly. The FB page was for ephemeral information: Crops being harvested, sales, things like that. Very few people go back to the FB history so the posts are there right now and two days later they're so far down the queue that people just won't see them. So FB needs a constant flow of posts for advertising.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Once upon a time my wife found a Halloween pumpkin that supposedly had motion activated speech and a projector for $45.00. What arrived was squeeze toy that you could buy at a dollar store for $2.00. I had a series of contacts with the seller which got me nowhere, and PayPal was in no hurry to reverse the charge. Finally I went to my credit card company and disputed the charge providing documentation and they reversed it that day. I will never buy anything from a Facebook ad again.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I don't trust FB "stores" at all, and any more I'm leery about eBay. Years ago eBay was great though.
Sadly, there are so many scammers on the net anymore.......

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

Yep... WAY too many scammers. I bought my last camera used from a little family owned camera store in Tokyo... They even sent me Origami as a gift ! I will have to find the paperwork and the name of the shop. VERY polite and professional. I would buy again in a heartbeat...