Opinion and Free Speech: Not a One Way Street

It’s been more than five years since I realized I couldn’t rely on sites like Rotten Tomatoes for all of my reviews. I would come across films where I disagreed with their rating, and like many people don’t seem to realize, the site is only an aggregate. It is a percentage of how many people give the film a favourable rating (good vs bad). 97% on Rotten Tomatoes does not mean it is 97/100. It means that 97% of critics decided the film falls on the good side of films, instead of the bad. It became necessary to pick specific reviewers I liked. Since I spent a lot of time on YouTube back then, I flocked to YouTube reviewers since they often provided concise reviews that focused on the aspects of a film that are most important to me; the performances and the story.

It was around this time I came across Jeremy Jahns. His videos were well-edited, his reviews were articulate and concise, and his sense of humour also helped to make me a repeat viewer. All of this to say that Jahns is one of the reviewers whose opinion I value most. I find that his thoughts generally don’t stray too far from mine. That might seem like a shallow observation, but since I am using him as a gauge of how good a film is, it makes sense that I pay attention to how often our views match.

Then again, there are times I disagree. It is inevitable. Jahns does dozens of movie reviews a year, it is very unlikely I’ll agree with every single one. Recently, Jahns reviewed Avengers: Infinity War. Jahns gave the film his second highest rating, “worth buying on Blu-ray”. One “fan” was irked by the fact that Jahns gave Suicide Squad the same rating, which led to this tweet.

Now. I do not agree with Jahns on Suicide Squad at all. I abhorred that film. However, I respect his opinion when it comes to this. He isn’t some bigoted politician, he is just a guy who had a different opinion about the artistic merit of a film. I recognize I don’t agree. I can also recognize that Lee Adams (the handle of @ItsLee_Bitches is a good indicator of his maturity) disagrees. I have no problem with disagreement itself. What actually bothers me is his excuse.

Of course, you are allowed to have an opinion. However, it makes no sense to criticize someone else’s opinion and then defend your argument by saying you have the right to have an opinion. Argue about the film itself, say that you thought the performances were weak etc. Don’t latch onto to the “it’s my right” excuse, like all the racists who latch onto the “free speech excuse”, thinking that it means everything they say is right and that everyone must agree with them. If you really cared about the right to an opinion so much then you wouldn’t care that Jahns has a different opinion than you.

This isn’t just about one idiot online. This is a widespread trend where people think that freedom of speech applies only to them. They have the freedom to insult and criticize others, but the second they get insulted, their freedom of speech is supposed to be a shield against the outside world.

 

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