I'm writing this in response to a news story recently released this week, whereby a radio host posted an instagram pic. She was skinny-shamed, being told to eat something, etc, etc
Why have we as a society, gotten to the point where we feel we have the right to speak such negativity into other people's lives. If she gained weight to please the masses, no doubt she would then be fat-shamed.
Some might say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and her posting her image on such a forum as social media invites such comments. Some may call her an attention-whore for even putting it up in the first place, but that also just proves the point that we, both as a collective, and as individuals, have no filter, just because we see something.
I am struggling to understand how, as an 'audience', we feel the right to express what we are thinking so freely, with no thought to how it may affect someone else. Some might say that's the risk of posting a picture on the net, but I could argue that this also translates into our every day dealings with people.
Having freedom of expression, could be argued as being a right. A right therefore is a privilege that we are all entitled too, some moreso than others, depending on the community or government you are a part of or subject to. As such, I would think, we also need to have some responsibility with what we express and how we express ourselves.
Drawing an analogy from the US, with their right to bear arms, entitles them to exercise their right to possess, own and handle firearms, under some semblance of guidelines and legislation, but does this give them the right to shoot their guns with no thought to whom it could harm or injure? No...likewise, what we say needs to be exercised with prudence, wisdom and discretion, too.
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