Magnus Marketing Blog

Recently, someone asked the question on LinkedIN about censorship and how some postings are mysteriously deleted. I lost the question and answer, but this triggers a very good point about what is appropriate to post and discuss and what is not. The United States was founded on the principle of Freedom of Speech, the ability to state opposing and sometimes unfavorable views about issues including our very own government. With the proliferation of social networks and other socially accepted venues, more opinion is being generated than ever before. This opinion is both positive and negative. What are the boundaries of freedom of expression?

Recently, I myself came under fire for a posting that was perceived as negative. Out of respect for the complainant the posting was removed. Although the posting had been directly responsible for generating traffic and added fuel to a joint awareness, I removed it. It would have been very, very easy for the complainant to turn my posting into a very positive story. Instead, I was censored.

The post, by the way, discussed an issue that was relatively minor, 100% factual, was not denigrating in anyway to the organization, product, or management and posed a great lesson for other businesses that had a similiar challenge. My blog is one designed to identify issues and educate, I really would hate - and I mean it, for other small businesses to make the same mistakes that I and the organizations I have been associated with.

In many respects, as someone said, we recently have lost our integrity - choosing to hide the truth under promises subsisting more of style over substance. We are so concerned about image and looking good, both in a physical and leadership sense, that we lost the real value of leadership - the ability to honestly deal with situations and express true candor leading to debate and discussion. Those who cannot handle criticism are those who fail because they are dishonest with themselves - whether insecure about position or knowledge or hiding under a veneer of representing as something they are not.

Censorship should only apply in cases where liability exists - where slander or libel is an outcome, where real monetary harm could be caused, where truth is twisted for manipulative means. Otherwise, it is time to bring back honesty and integrity to our interactions. Let substance replace style and candor reign over phony obsequiesm.