To some people, you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. Nothing you can do is right with them. They always find something wrong with you. Some are demented enough to put in time and effort to create those wrongs just so they can validate their hatred. Why? Because they think they can because…freedom. They believe they have the ‘freedom’ to say or do whatever they want and shouldn’t have to suffer any consequences for their actions even if they put others in harms way.
Case in point, you’ve probably heard about Saturday Night Live and rebooted Ghostbusters star and comedienne Leslie Jones catching a plethora of hate on Twitter. Numerous hateful trolls, for reasons that can only be summed up as ‘primitive’, spewed their racist, misogynistic venom towards the actress seemingly for simply starring in the remake of the classic 1980’s hit film. The bombardment of hate directed at Jones was so much that she had to bail out. (Honestly, who could blame her?) But now, she’s back on Twitter now that the social media site expelled and banned the losers responsible for the online abuse.
It’s no surprise that this caught the attention of the news media. While checking out several articles, one name was referenced in the online chaos. Milo Yiannopoulos.
Yiannopoulos has been cited as an alternative, libertarian internet troll who works as a tech editor for Breitbart’s news site. He’s been known to attack Twitter users inciting a legion of right wingers to follow suit. It is said that he largely instigated Twitter uses to attack Leslie Jones as he has summoned his followers to harass women in the video game industry.
Ultimately, Twitter decided to give Yiannopoulos the permanent boot. But he didn’t go without crying about how ‘unfair’ it was and that he plans to fight back. And his followers certainly didn’t ignore the opportunity to scream ‘oppression against the right’.
Opinion writers referred to Twitter’s actions as ‘unprecedented’. And while there is a debate as to whether it’s the right thing to do, there must be a discussion as to where the line is drawn as to what pertains as freedom of speech.
But one thing is clear, something that escapes a lot of people whenever they cry foul whenever they invoke their freedom of speech clause whenever they say something offensive, and usually that’s when they most often use it. Freedom comes with responsibility, a way to handle your freedoms, whatever they may be, so that they can benefit yourself and others and not put yourself, individuals or groups in the crosshairs of hatred.
Yiannopoulos and his minions abused that right against those they held a deep disdain for. Instead, they went full-on chaotic on cyberspace, allowing their bullshit to boil over onto the keyboard tweeting vile messages in less than 140 characters.
Yiannopoulos practiced no restraint as he allowed his douche bag behavior get the best of himself, and those who followed him wasn’t smart enough to exercise better judgment in not taking part on the harassment. Yes, Yiannopoulos can have an opinion or two about women in the video game market or that women were cast in the Ghostbusters remake. He can even disagree with casting Leslie Jones as one of the main characters. But he wasn’t mature or intelligent enough to express them without sounding like a total diseased dick.
He also wasn’t bright enough to know how karma works. (Sociopaths never do.) He abused an innocent, talented black woman in the most racist and sexist way on the internet, and drew the ire of people who were against racism and sexism and was eventually evicted from Twitter space.
Now, he’s banned, and he doesn’t know why. One can say having privilege can blind yourself from your own bullshit. And being a sociopathic moron with no mental help is even more troubling. So, we shouldn’t expect Yiannopoulos to realize how much of an ass he was any time soon.
Again, how Twitter handled the situation is debatable. But Milo Yiannopoulos has been another demonstrator of what freedom truly isn’t. A lot of folks like him really don’t want freedom. They want anarchy for white male jackasses.