A Poem got Banned from Facebook - Is this #Censorship

8/15/2018

A POEM
BANNED FROM FACEBOOK

A poem posted to Facebook today was banned and earned a 24-hour ban for the account posting it. Here is the poem that got the account suspended.

men are trash

say three words
men are trash
and men will show up to prove it

whisper three words
men are trash
like a prayer, god will always answer

learn these words
men are trash
and don't you ever forget it

lest you forget,
repeat it with me
men are fucking trash

Facebook said the poem was hate speech.

Questions for readers and followers:

Does this constitute censorship?
Do you believe this poem is hate speech?

Sound off in the comments.

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3 Comments

Kathryn Warner link

8/15/2018 01:30:07 pm

Stephen Moran is an lovely person and talented author and poet. He is not a hater and that poem was not a hate speech. Expression.

D. A . Pratt

8/17/2018 11:18:12 am

Freedom is complex ...and nuanced ... there is the freedom to do something and there’s the freedom to not have something done (freedom to bully, for example, maybe a bad one, and the freedom to not be bullied) ...

There are also contexts for certain expressions ... someone who has had five relationships with men all resulting in bad experiences could exclaim the phrase in question as a form of exasperation (anger perhaps) ... would it be hate speech? Probably not ... but someone might see it that way ... just saying ...

Freedom in speech is often subject to some limitations (hate speech is often cited as a major example) ... those defining those limitations will see what they will see ... frankly just because we don’t like something may not give us reason to “ban” it ... (one could say much ... I’ll stop)

DaP