Should public figures be punished for things on Social Media?

[Glopez]

It seems like famous people are often times more harshly punished for things they say on Facebook or Twitter than anyone else, even when their intent wasn't to be a certain way. It is hard to know the emotion of something being said on social media. Rosanne Barr recently got her show canceled on ABC for a "joke" she said on Twitter that involved very racist or at least racial bating remarks. The show was also the hit of the year with more viewers and revenue than any other show I believe. 

I get them wanting to cancel it because of how people are today. If they didn't cancel it then everyone would start screaming for everyone to boycott ABC because they are racist.

What are your thoughts on stuff like this?

[riptide87]

I really don't have an opinion on this. I respect freedom of speech but at the same time, if you are a public figure, this shouldn't excuse saying distasteful things just because you are well known or rich. 

[bluntTR4P]

Punished for what? Sharing their opinions? Why? This is what I don't get, we have freedom of speech and yet so many people constantly want to get rid of it because something someone else says is not what they agree with. If someone wants to be an open racist on Twitter or any other platform, LET THEM! There is a thing called social justice. 

[Reyes]

On 6/2/2018 at 7:26 PM, bluntTR4P said:

Punished for what? Sharing their opinions? Why? This is what I don't get, we have freedom of speech and yet so many people constantly want to get rid of it because something someone else says is not what they agree with. If someone wants to be an open racist on Twitter or any other platform, LET THEM! There is a thing called social justice. 

I have to agree with this. You shouldn't be able to ban someone or charge them for a crime for being an idiot. You should let them be because the general public will dish it right back. It is not like offline. A lot of times people only say and do things online because they feel protected. Most people who say stupid things on Twitter would never say it in public offline much less to anyone's face. Are they really a threat? I would guess not. 

On the other hand, if you lose your job over it, then that is on you. lol

Edited June 11, 2018 by Reyes

[JustHatched]

The media is so skewed on this, they put all the attention of what some say and not others. If it was an unbias thing with the media and everyone was being held accountable for their mouth then we wouldn't be seeing as much of this

[DaveSpeek]

On 6/12/2018 at 12:40 PM, JustHatched said:

The media is so skewed on this, they put all the attention of what some say and not others. If it was an unbias thing with the media and everyone was being held accountable for their mouth then we wouldn't be seeing as much of this

Exactly. You see some people get away with crap and then others get punished for weeks or months over simply wording something wrong or a small group of people taking something the wrong way. Everything is a joke. The serious issues get swept under the rug for less important "news". Social media alone has brought us amazing things but with it, a ton of headaches. 

[DarkShark]

Punished how? My views are this... If you are a public figure, this means you have a following and some kind of influence over a decent chunk of people. If you start doing or saying things to be funny or whatever and it is actually racist, sexist, etc. then you should be punished via temporary banning. Facebook, Twitter, and the like need to establish this for EVERYONE EQUALLY though. You can't knit pick and only punish one religion/belief and not the other or one political party/view and not the other. What sucks though is no one is willing to sit in the middle. They all feel the need to pick sides which makes things unfair and it is hard to not take notice.