Caution: A bit of a wall of text.

The social media warriors do create a form of covert censorship.

I understand that anything outside of government regulation of speech should not be forbidden, but we do need to ask ourselves if we will be a better society because of our society's use of social media outrage.

In 2012 a headline writer at ESPN used the term "Chink in the Armor" to describe Jeremy Lin's, (an American of Taiwanese decent) first poor game after his historic string of high-scoring games.

The term, used to indicate there was finally a weakness in Lin's play, caused an outrage because it might have indicated that ESPN was racially slurring Lin's ancestry. Did it? Americans didn't care. The fact that it MIGHT have been insensitive was enough to call for heads.

Now, despite his apology, and the fact that the editor used a common term to indicate someone's weakness finally displayed without thinking of a possible negative connotation because he would never refer to Lin with any slur, it was not enough for Americans, (who only saw screenshots of the headline since it was only up for 20ish minutes in the middle of the night- but they shared the screenshot so we can all be offended together!), and the editor was fired.

That is not making the world a better place.

Of course, that is a single example, but our social activism is doing enough good that non-racists occasionally swept into the potential boycott machine are acceptable collateral damage! Maybe.

But to me the career of a single editor at ESPN is not as big a deal as the fact that the potential ramifications of ideas is enough to silence any potentially constructive discussion.

There are problems in our society. It will occasionally hurt some feelings to fix them so we can't even discuss the existence of the problem.

A mother posts a picture onto her facebook/twitter/instagram or whatever showing her young children and her six-pack and asks, "What's your excuse?"

Now, America has a problem with obesity. It will increase the cost of healthcare burden and will literally kill us early. That mother was not trying to limit the size of a coke you can buy at the gas station, but asking everyone to be the best version of themselves.

Nope. She was fat-shaming! I'm sorry, we have a problem with obesity and the solution isn't a mandate of healthier school lunches, but the individual decision to better oneself. America attacked a mother for her attempt to help them.

Look, do what you have to do. Go downvote opinions on reddit you disagree with. Get the Dukes of Hazzard taken off the air in case someone sees the Confederate battle flag on car called the General Lee. Spend time seeking out things that might offend someone and eradicate not only the offense, but the offender.

I'm sure it will actually make the world a better place.

[EDIT: Ok, think about why you're downvoting me. Seriously, if you believe that my comment is no bringing anything to the discussion that's ok - that is what the downvote is for. If it makes you feel uncomfortable about your use of your social media accounts, then explain why you believe the world is improving by us boiling complex human beings that we don't know into easily categorized stereotypes. And once these strangers are a caricature instead of a person it is easy to see, and want, them fired.

I am not advocating a society that accepts racism. I don't believe that opinions should not carry consequences, but I do believe we're too quick to judge strangers with incomplete facts. I do believe we'd be better off focusing our energies on improving ourselves instead of punishing strangers over something that might offend someone. And I don't really understand the culture of seeking things to be offended over.]