As of November 13, Turkey has officially banned access to
Reddit due to a highly contentious censorship law. Reddit, a social media site,
allows users to freely converse about current events, photos, viral posts, etc.
This is a prime example of how governments in different
countries are inhibiting individuals’ ability to communicate openly, therefore
diminishing free speech entirely.
Due to the power of the Turkish government, the individuals in power
withheld access to this website without warning, creating a disadvantage for
the affected individuals in an ability to protest the law. According to a
Turkish government website, “after technical analysis and legal
consideration ... administration measure has been taken for this website."
The government banned the website for sensational, and scandalous content in
order to eliminate any controversial discourse. However, when individuals lack
the ability to converse over controversial topics, they do not receive multiple
perspectives of news, current events, and “hot” topics that affect the lives of
individuals on a global scale.
Individuals must be able to hear opposing views
in order to become educated on political and social topics, even if they are
controversial and sensationalized. Although Reddit is not a primary, reliable
“news source”, it is important because it creates an interest for individuals
to become interested to debate and discussion on social forums. In Freedom for
the Thought that We Hate, Lewis explains this notion, using John Stuart Mill as
an example. He explains, “John Stuart Mill, in his ‘On Liberty’ in 1859, argued
that a suppressed opinion may contain a whole or partial truth that society
needs. Even a false belief is valuable, he argued, because the process of
debate about it may test and confirm the truth of the opposing view” (Lewis,
184-185). Therefore, although it can be argued that debate on this website
regarding current events may perpetuate “false beliefs”, individuals still
benefit from internalizing readily available information that is given to them
on a website. This is because social platforms such as Reddit sensationalize
the news, yet creates awareness for individuals to learn more about events that
they may have not heard or read about otherwise.
Carly Chalmers
No comments:
Post a Comment