There's this thing out there called freedom of speech. And those on social media make it their point to practice that freedom day in and day out, ad nauseam. But that doesn't mean everyone has to be subjected to it.
Earlier this week on The Root, several writers took issue with actor Michael Rapaport. Whether it was because of his stance on his precious fantasy football league and the fact that he took issue with football players sitting out during the national anthem; because he doesn't get to tell black people how to feel just because he loves hip-hop; or because a reputable sports site decided to give him airtime to talk about sports and black athletes, Rapaport's antics and opinions made for good fodder.
But where did the fodder end and the name-calling begin? Maybe Rapaport has the answer to that. For example, there's this tweet he sent to one of our female followers on Twitter:
If you're not certain what the saying "What that mouff do" alludes to, it's a common saying when it comes to oral sex. And then there are the tweets Rapaport and his cronies sent to The Root’s account, which ranged from unintelligible ramblings to accusations of race-baiting because two freelancers and I wrote about him.
All of this freedom of speech, but there are times when you choose not to be subjected to it.
There's one thing you can do on Twitter that puts this free speech out of sight and out of mind: Utilize the block feature. And that's what happened. Rapaport was blocked. No longer would we have to see his tweets. Or see what he was tweeting. No one has to tolerate trolling on social media if they don't want to. It benefits no one.
It's sad that he feels this is a slight to him. Thousands of people are blocked every day on social media, and people shouldn't take it personally. Or threaten that they're "lawyering up" because they can't see someone's tweets any more.
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