Freedom of Speech...eh?

So.

On this clash between freedom of speech and blog thing.

Well, then.

A biased opinion is sure to entail, for those of you who know anything about me, but really, I'm going to try and make this as honest as possible.

Like the real world, consequences are based upon the judgement and actions of people. Free speech is not really free speech, when it infringes and endangers the rights and beliefs of other people. The same result would ensue should a person have screamed out that she wanted to "slit her teacher's throat like a chicken", the same way if she had posted it on her blog for the world to see. The only difference is, said person would be harder to track for a naive computer user.

Of course people can get in trouble for the things they say. At any given moment, a person can access these blogs and easily track things down. But what's the fine line between blogging and...threats? Whether it's on a blog, a newsletter, or scrawled on the walls of a public bathroom, a threat is a threat is a threat is a threat. No other name can be used to disguise it, and threats should be dealt with using DISCRETION and specific details pertaining to the person, for instance, if it's a mild-mannered person who has never really had issues before, suddenly exploding on a safe outlet, there's a reason for concern, and perhaps a reference to the school psychologist, but no real reason for action, unless a specific concern is detected.

Honestly, though, no matter how much teachers and parents and well-meaning samaritains try to hinder and block access to blogs, and MySpace, and Facebook, etc, there is no way to do so. The level of technology and the levels of the people that use them is going down in the generations- there are less ways to block out the internet for adults than there are to hack right back in for students. Good intentions can only be told through stories like Kara Borden's, or Olivia Gardner's, both victims and persecutors in this torrid internet controversy.

o