It is hard to believe that the majority of people living in today’s Bermuda have any real appreciation for what true censorship entails.

There are places in the world where thoughts, beliefs, speech, and daily lives, right down to the clothes people wear, are governed by those in power. The fight to make a dissenting voice heard can lead to the most disastrous of consequences.

Given that, the complaint made by some that they are being censored, by not being able to comment on The Royal Gazette’s website, is bordering on the offensive.

To also suggest, as has been done, that it is an attack on freedom of expression, barely merits recognition as a serious comment.

Debate on this Island, for the most part, has been hijacked by political hacks on all sides.

Some with the credibility an official position affords them, and others, occasionally faceless, whose job, it seems, is to pollute the airwaves and digital world with their ‘opinions’. It is a sad fact, but one that must be acknowledged.

In this environment, where comments are immediate, and do not come with a ‘paid for’ warning, a filter against the daily slurry of rehashed propaganda, and racism, is of greater value to the community as a whole, than giving oxygen to these arguments.

Oxygen, it should be noted, that is readily available elsewhere, on blogs, special interest websites, and social media.

Certain members of the 21st century world in which we live may be surprised to discover that there is no inalienable right to comment. Entitlement to an opinion, and entitlement to express it however we see fit, are not one and the same.

There is already too much entitlement in our modern world. Some people believe that they have a right to a well-paying job, a fancy car, a sparkly new cell phone — they do not. They do have the right to work hard to try and afford these things.

Similarly, and this applies the world over, there is no entitlement to express an opinion on articles that appear on the internet.

It is a privilege, one gained through trust and a displayable level of maturity, and for certain topics of discussion on this Island, that trust has not been earned.

Whether maturity would come from an end to anonymous commenting is debatable, there is little evidence to suggest it would, but it is certainly a question worth exploring.

If nothing else it may temper the vitriol, and give cause for pause, before the send button is clicked.

We do not live in a dictatorship, or in a country where you are told what your opinion is.

Everyone on our Island paradise has an opinion, and multiple outlets available for expressing whatever that maybe.

However, freedom of expression comes with responsibility, and the need to recognise that you cannot say whatever you want.

You cannot make baseless accusations of corruption, repeat unfounded rumours that question an individual’s integrity, or besmirches their character.

The laws of defamation apply just as well to the internet as anywhere else. Bermuda is not another world in that regard, and it does not need the possibility of legal action for this to be true.

Unlike some of the comments on the internet, this is an indisputable fact.

What is also indisputable is that, in the event a defamatory comment is made, and acted upon, it is The Royal Gazette that is liable.

And we are entitled to put a policy in place that helps us prevent that.