Opinion: social media and freedom in general.

By Chellie Cervone - Posted: Nov 11, 2013 at 7:48 am

American Legion Freedom Bell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Social media and freedom

The right to free speech, freedom of expression and freedom in general, seems to be not so much of a right anymore . . . if you happen to say or do something that offends a group that has a lot of members and supporters.

People who dare say what they really think are now oftentimes subject to an unbelievable amount of public backlash, including threats of physical violence simply for exercising their rights or expressing an opinion.

The lines have become so blurred and it seems to have gotten so out of hand that sometimes the most innocent things people say, or even wear, are turned into a huge issues – even when it was simply a joke or when no ill intent was intended.

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Take Julianne Hough, for example.

The former Dancing with the Stars cutie has been blasted for her choice of a Halloween Costume.

She decided to go in black-face.

Now, mind you, she didn’t dream up going in black-face to insult anyone.

She was dressing up as the character Crazy Eyes from the popular Netflix series “Orange is the New Black”, a character played by actress Uzo Aduba.

What’s the big friggin’ deal?

Am I in the minority as one of the few who fails to see how this is racist?

It’s nice to see an African-American celebrity come to her defense.

Tamar Braxton, didn’t see anything wrong with it,

Wendy Williams on the other hand, who’s outspokenness I applaud, slammed her and called her “ignorant”.

Hough couldn’t dress up as the character, and bear any resemblance to the character with her milk-white skin and, in her mind, she thought it was funny.

Is there a list of rules as to who you can and cannot go as?

Hough did not want to get into a pissing match with the world so she issued an apology.

The sad thing is that most celebrities cow down to any backlash.

I would have liked her to see add some more to her apology and perhaps say she has the right to dress up as who she wants.

Because she does.

Do we slam Nicky Minaj, for example, for wearing blonde hair or say that she is promoting poor moral values by prancing around half-naked?

Young girls adore her and her choice of a Halloween outfit, as a sort of half-naked dominatrix, could be construed as setting an extremely poor example for young women.

What about gay marriage?

Yes, it’s been a long time coming and yes, this author is a huge proponent of any two people having the right to marry each other, but, we should still respect other people’s opinion.

I have friends that are against it and we are still friends.

That’s because being friends doesn’t mean that we have to be on the same page for everything.

Some people are simply not proponents for gay marriage and they have that right to their beliefs.

It seems that the age of social media has given people a voice and it’s fantastic that people use it, however, sometimes people just follow others and are much more bold that they would be in everyday situations and are just followers.

In my opinion, that’s not so good.

One person has a thought and before you know it, thousands, if not millions, are on board saying the same thing, or some variation of it.

Like the telephone game.

Remember that? One person whispered something into the ear of the person next to them who it turn would whisper it to the person next to them.

By the time the last person in the game received the whispered message and repeated it, the statement was completely different that the original statement.

Opinions are one thing, but far too often these opinions spur other people on and a line is crossed.

Destroying peoples livelihoods, their businesses and their homes for expressing an opinion is just wrong.

I attended a Halloween party in Las Vegas a few years back where the attendees were mostly show people.

One man dressed as Joan Crawford (Mommy Dearest) and had a fake baby doll attached to him that he was dragging around hitting the baby with a wire hanger.

It was way out there but this guy thought it was funny.

Some others thought it was funny too, while others thought it was completely tasteless and crude, however, no one firebombed his home because they thought he was a child abuser or promoting child abuse.

He wasn’t. He may have had a twisted sense of humor and that is his right.

Last time I checked, this is still American and our foundation is based upon freedom.

The freedom to express oneself without fear of being on the receiving end of physical violence.