If you have a twitter account like myself or even just internet, then more likely than not you have seen the name Milo Yiannopoulos. For anyone out of the loop or needing a refresher allow me to catch you up. Yiannopoulos, editor of Breitbart, was recently banned from Twitter after his comments and the comments of others towards actress Leslie Jones caused her to leave the social media site. The comments were full of hate and racism, two descriptions that only skim the surface of how sickening the remarks were. While for a short period of time the length of the ban was undetermined by Twitter, it has now been decided that Milo, who refers to himself as the “most fabulous supervillain in the world,” will be banned for life. His life ban along with the banning of others has brought up a great deal of questioning and discussion of both sides of the topic. But in the greatest sense, it is a discussion on the necessity for freedom of speech and a need for censorship to work hand in hand.
As quick as Milo was notified of his ban, supporters of both him and of twitter began to emerge. While his supporters and followers of more than 300,000 started #FreeMilo stating that he did nothing worthy of resulting in a ban, the supporters of his ban are beyond thrilled that action had been taken against the growing problem of hate speech and cyber abuse. On either side of the debate, one needs to ask themselves at what point does the use freedom of speech become abuse of speech. Where exactly can this line be drawn? When can we officially all agree that things have gone too far? The tweets of Yiannopoulos, his supporters, Twitter’s reaction, and the banning of others is not the start of this problem, and sadly it is not the end. What could make this such a difficult problem to approach is that by taking action against those expressing such things brings up an infringement on their freedom of speech. By not doing so, destroys the victims right to a pursuit of happiness. There is a problem, that can’t be denied. This is simply a small yet crucial step to a potential solution.
Standforthesilent.org presents a disturbing statistic. Over 55,000 children have taken their lives in the last 7 years directly from being victimized. In that time that means a yearly average suicide rate is 8,000 a year, 22 per day, and approximately 1 every single hour. These children are deciding that because of the words of others towards them, that this is not a life worth living. It goes without saying that these words are being spread and sent through technology rather than face-to-face. If this alone does not prove to you that we have something beyond just a problem, I do not know what will. Let me state that I am in no way saying that we should lose our freedom of speech, but that there should be a point and line at which our words can be held accountable as more than words. Especially when they are resulting in the deaths of children and adults
The events occurring and being made public by the ban of Yiannopoulos are a hopeful beginning to making true progress in an uphill battle against the attacks and abuse being performed daily. More and more people are having their eyes opened up to the fact that what may have been interpreted as overreactions is the cover to much much more. When diving in deeper we can begin to observe this growing problem. Is it not enough that it is able to be coupled with a death toll of children's lives? Something needs to be done--and done before there is no available victory. It will take more than a small group of law makers or small handful of individuals to fix this. It will take all of our efforts. And with a unified effort, lives will be saved. Happiness will be found. This world we all exist within, together will be better for all of us. I don’t want to lose my freedom of speech, but I also do not want to lose my family, friends or those in my life because someone hiding behind a screen feels invulnerable to the repercussions of their actions. For the sake of your future, their future and our future, we need change and it needs to start now. Words are being used to attack and hurt others. But, we can change that. The things we say, how we express oursleves carry more weight and influence than whats imaginable. It is words that mold history, words change society, words are what change the world. How will we allow them to change us? Will we let them bring us up and all those around us, or will we choose to let them continue us in the spiraling free fall we are falling into?
