Updated July 28, 2014
A few years ago, I started a discussion at the Essence.com community forum entitled Should a Black Man Be Allowed to Disagree?
What set it off was Bene Viera and some others deciding that Obsidian didn’t have the right to speak his mind about the state of relationships in the African American community.
It was clear, with the witch hunt that took place against him, the idea of freedom of speech isn’t relevant when someone disagrees with the mainstream or what they believe “safe niggers” should believe.
They didn’t like what he had to say, so they used his doing something most bloggers do when referencing an author, and posted a photo along with the link. Photos tend to make links more attractive, and most webmasters and writers online are happy to get some traffic…but in this case, like freedom of speech, internet courtesy goes wasted when the party line isn’t being towed.
So they got his blog shut down at WordPress for “copyright violation”, after failing to do so on the basis of the disagreement.
In my opinion, thought policing is wrong no matter who’s doing it. If everybody gets the same facts, and different people interpret them differently, that is not my business unless or until any of them set their hands to violating my “rights” (inasmuch as that has any meaning in a world with drone warfare).
Looks, from the fact they deleted the discussion, like Essence forum moderators have to tow the party line. I’ve come to a point that I don’t really care because the reality of the situation is manifesting regardless of what anyone says or thinks about it.
Time…some say it is cruel, but I think She’s great. 🙂
