Temporary restriction of access to Social Media in the aim of minimizing ethnic tensions!

[Ransri]

Sri Lankan government has temporarily blocked Social Media platforms including “Facebook”, currently, in the stated aim of preventing and discontinuing acts of “communal tension” in the country. Is this type of restriction even for a short time period acceptable according to “Catholic point of view” ??

Sri Lanka struggles to halt days of Buddhist riots

 

[Mattapoisett64]

“Social Media” is a sewer of staggering proportions, a haven for bullying, narcissism, and yes, fake news; it provides an instant international megaphone for every crackpot, conspiracy theorist, anti-social cellar dweller, and evil-intentioned sociopath. Access to social media deserves no more protection than access to pornography. In fact, I have come to believe social media, as it has evolved to this day, is even more destructive than pornography.

 

[Spyridon]

“Social Media” is a sewer of staggering proportions, a haven for bullying, narcissism, and yes, fake news; it provides an instant international megaphone for every crackpot, conspiracy theorist, anti-social cellar dweller, and evil-intentioned sociopath. Access to social media deserves no more protection than access to pornography. In fact, I have come to believe social media, as it has evolved to this day, is even more destructive than pornography.

Uhhh…

Isn’t it kind of ironic that you’re saying this… On a social media platform?

Maybe you’re not aware that internet forums are a form of social media?

Social media includes vlogs, blogs, and forums, as well as websites and apps like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Social media is any internet based content where people can share information and ideas and engage in social networking.

 

[Spyridon]

Is this type of restriction even for a short time period acceptable according to “Catholic point of view

Yes, this would be acceptable for the Government to do according to the Catholic Church.

 

[Mattapoisett64]

Yeah, well, irony was the price I was willing to pay for saying what I thought needed to be said. And I don’t think most people would associate a religious board with the kind of sites driving children to suicide or promoting the worst kind of deviant, hedonistic, and materialistic lifestyles. I for one don’t think the ability to share cat videos is worth dead children and ruined lives. If that’s ironic, make the most of it.

 

[Genesis315]

Yes, there is no Catholic principle of an absolute freedom of speech–it can be restricted according to the objective moral order and the needs of the common good. Taking the rationale here at face value, it seems it would be a matter of both.

Pacem in Terris: “He has a right to freedom in investigating the truth, and—within the limits of the moral order and the common good—to freedom of speech and publication, and to freedom to pursue whatever profession he may choose.”