On social media, you can say whatever you want – but you don’t have to! [Pulse Editor’s Opinion]

Someone commented that ex-Big Brother Naija Housemate and actress, Erica Nlewedim has no sex appeal and Erica went ahead to post the girl’s pictures as if to say, you are not sexy either.

There is no need to pass comments about people’s physical appearance, celebrities and everyday people alike. So, both of them are wrong in that instance.

Yes, she has a right to her opinion on Erica’s sex appeal, but did she have to quote Erica’s tweet with that comment? Erica too was right to be upset about that comment.

Another interesting thing is a Twitter user said something negative about Yoruba women.

She had a habit of calling them dirty and all manner of reprehensible things, clearly a tribalist, but Yoruba women began insulting Igbo women in general, and many unsavoury things were said by women of both tribes.

Anyone who contributed to that discussion was wrong because women are the same- we shouldn’t let a tribe create a demarcation. We share more in common than language and culture.

Many people feel they have a right to make comments on issues no one asked them and enjoy being savage by ad hominem attacks on people’s looks, relationships, jobs, and families, which is no longer freedom of speech.

All in a bid to sound savage or for retweets or likes, people make the most unnecessary comments, you can respectfully disagree or state your opinion.

A good case in point is rapper Kanye West who keeps infuriating the public with his comments. Yes, white lives matter, but given the history of racism and the slave trade, do white people need to be celebrated? Not to mention his saying Jewish people have an ‘agenda’.

Freedom of speech should be protected but where your freedom stops is where another person’s right begins. Anything discriminatory that expresses prejudice or hate for a group or wishes them harm. Anything that might malign, diminishes or falsely accuse anyone is off-limits.

So, I guess in a way, you can’t say whatever you want.