One hundred and forty characters. That number was not familiar a few years ago, but now? It’s a whole new game.
Twitter is the official site for revolution, for angry rants and for people everywhere to shed their emotions into a small packed little tweet.
So why is Turkey banning Twitter? According to multiple reports, there were bad things said about the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to David Frum of CNN, "More than 2.5 million tweets — or over 17,000 per minute — were reportedly posted (from Turkey) in the first 24 hours after the ban"
Now, if I was a leader of Turkey, I would look past all the bad that people were saying about me, because it is to be expected. I rule a country. Not everyone is going to agree with what I will do.
But, apparently, someone had his feelings hurt and did not appreciate when his citizens were talking bad about him.
If that isn’t an overreaction, I don’t know what is. Twitter is a source of social media that is starting to be a necessity.
It’s understandable why Twitter was blocked. Twitter is the “it” social media network now. The who's who of every sphere is on Twitter and everything that has to be said is going to be said.
Facebook and other social media networks are dying out while Twitter is becoming the go-to website when something has happened.
Banning a social media network is probably the worst thing a leader can do. Not only are you denying your people of the freedom of speech, but you are denying your people the freedom to express.
While banning Twitter is probably one of the most immature, if not the stupidest thing you can do, you can add the fact that you are starting to dictate your country and people are sure not going to like that. By banning Twitter, the prime minister will probably have another revolution on his hands.
Blocking someone’s access because you don’t agree with his or her views is not something a world leader should do.
Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are two of the most important things humans have as a right. No one should take it away because of their insecurities and conflicting views.
Banning Twitter is the start of a leader losing his cool but also a leader losing his mind. Twitter should be the least of your worries considering that you're running an entire country.
Banning Twitter should not have been a political move. I don’t run a country but I, at least, would have let my people spoken.
Reach the columnist at Tishni.Weerasinghe@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @TishniW
