There's been a lot of chatter of late about ramping up the measures to prevent people speaking their mind on the internet.
A lot of people think this is a good idea and they have good grounds to back their ideas up. For example: Is it fun to take the piss out of Tom Daley's dead dad? No. Is it nice to call a guy who shot two police women a legend? Also no. So should we stop people having the right to free speech because of this? Of course not.
The problem here isn't that free speech is a bad thing. Social media is a great tool for allowing people to say exactly what they think and this is a good thing. People should be allowed to say whatever they like.
The issue is not free speech.
The issue is that some people are pricks.
This problem will continue forever and ever and no amount of laws or men with knives going round stabbing people who speak their minds will stop that. Some people will always be pricks.
I know this because a lot of the time I can be a prick. I say things that make me look obnoxious and arrogant and a bit naive and some of the time people respond to those things I say by implying I should throw myself off a tall building and end it all before it gets out of hand.
Both of these things are fine. Don't stop people from calling murderers legends, don't stop people bullying Tom Daley, just encourage people to give them shit back. If we start trying to stop it eventually someone (me) will become a revolutionary and things will kick off. It will probably end with the Queen dying and no-one wants that, apart from the people who will set up a Facebook page to call whoever did it a hero.
