I grew up watching Robin Williams and loved his work. When I ran into him in New York City late one night with a friend of mine about 11 years ago he was gracious and funny and even said, "nano nano". My condolences go out to his family.
It saddened me to read in the New York Daily News that Robin Williams daughter Zelda Williams was tormented and harassed online for the sole reason she is Robin Williams daughter. Due to disgusting and hateful things people said about her and/or her father, she stated that she will not utilize her public digital accounts for the near future. While Twitter "vows to improve" it policies after this incident, what does this really mean?
Ms. Williams just shockingly lost her famous father and within 24 hours was hounded so relentlessly online that it led her to stop posting publicly. What is wrong with our society? Ms. Williams has tried to accommodate her father's fans by sharing some intimate details of her personal life with him and is instead criticized for her actions. Instead of just thanking Ms. Williams for sharing some private moments with her dad and/or sending her condolences some people are tormenting her.
In the Digital Age, I still believe that "sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never hurt me" applies. While it may difficult to sometimes see the value of this adage it is more important than ever. The United States was built upon the foundation of free speech and what may be considered vitriol by one may be nothing more than a personal political opinion. Even though I find many anonymous online comments to be worthless, I still believe as our founding fathers did that one should have the right to publicly voice their opinions anonymously.
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