Facebook, nudity and Helen Zille, free speech and ANC Youth League.

According to News24 an employee was fired for calling his employer a “serial masturbator”. That’s a rough description of anybody to throw online as it raises all kinds of questions. The offender posted on Facebook and was snitched by a co-worker.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2522718,00.html

Legal opinion in the article states that one can say anything, “provided that what is expressed is based on fact”,  “serial masturbator” is a difficult allegation to back up in a court of law. One would imagine calls from the prosecution to provide valid evidence over a significant period of time to justify the appendage “serial”.

A serial is a story shown in regular instalments and that could be used to describe the ubiquitous ANC Youth League who had a page on Facebook taken down replete with the usual, same-old, scurrilous and defamatory statements against Helen Zille.

Facebook has taken flack recently for lack of action against people denying the holocaust and yet they employ approximately 150 able and energetic activists on their daily or maybe hourly nipple patrol. An exposed nipple equals offensive nudity and one can understand the sensitivities of people, especially Americans.

However, political offensiveness surely deserves the same policing, maybe more as people go to war based on politics but don’t really mass rockets, tanks and subs over an exposed nipple or a strand of pubic hair.

The ongoing strand through all of this is that most people seem unaware of the implications of posting on Facebook or anywhere online for that matter. The fact that Facebook owns content and also the deeper, maybe, implications of using hate speech and inciting anger or hatred against people of a different colour or creed.

It’s as easy as clicking away on a keyboard but may take longer, much longer to dissipate.

Free speech is not an inalienable right as it comes complete with a responsibility not to infringe on other people’s rights to privacy, dignity and reputation. Compared to hate speech, nudity seems a bit soft core, in fact it would be interesting to see the stats comparing people against nudity to people against hate speech on Facebook.