Why I left Facebook for a Week

Why I left Facebook for a week:

I’m just going to go ahead and say it – I am a huge Trump supporter.

But before you go ahead and judge me on my right to free speech and independent thought, to like and dislike who I choose without any bias judgement, let me first explain what this has to do with me leaving Facebook for a week.

Over the course of several months, I have seen a lot of hate speech towards the new president on many social media platforms; Facebook.

From people wishing he would die to others claiming he rigged the campaign to win; with each statement and comment made; which got worse by the day mind you, none were ever censored or taken down by the management and staff of Facebook HQ.

Accepting the fact that a lot of my friends and family don’t like Trump and understanding that they are well within their right to share their thoughts on why they dislike him. I remained quiet for some time, accepting the idea my family and friends were simply exercising their right to free speech. No matter how distasteful some of the comments were.

But then as the months went on, I began to realise, that I too had the right to free speech and share my thoughts on Facebook to why I believe Trump is the best thing that has ever happened to America; if not the world.

Note: this post is not a political debate on why I believe Trump is the perfect president, this post is to share with you why I don’t believe free speech is fair to everyone in the 21^st century.

From sharing videos of Trump speaking at forums, to writing inspirational responses to many of Trump’s achievements since becoming president, I began to use my voice to let people know how I felt on social media.

And this is where things started to get strange on Facebook.

I noticed my videos were being taken off Facebook with notifications telling me the content was inappropriate for Facebook and many of my comments showing support for Trump were being removed with similar messages from Facebook telling me that the content was again not appropriate according to the rules and regulations of Facebook.

There were even some circumstances where many of my videos and comments on Trump were removed from Facebook, without any notification at all to why.

Feeling puzzled, frustrated and down-right annoyed that Facebook believed my content was offensive, when Trump haters were sharing what I thought was distasteful posts about Trump were being accepted, I switched my Facebook account off for a week.

When did it become socially acceptable to use social media as a tool to share nothing but hate, rather than a tool which allows you to share support. And why is it okay to share hate and not love. I just don’t get it.

I feel perplexed by the idea that my thoughts and ideas on why I believe Trump is great are considered offensive, when I find it more offensive when comedians like Kathy Griffin pose for a photoshoot covered in blood, holding the head of her president and then blast it all over social media.

It shouldn’t matter who you support or don’t support, free speech is free speech and I am just as entitled as any Trump hater out there, to share my thoughts and ideas on Facebook, without the risk of having them removed.

Since writing this, I have returned to Facebook. Will I stay with Facebook? Time will tell.