Today, we are seeing more and more people being blackmailed into paying exorbitant ransoms. Choose the wrong word as an academic and you may find yourself denied both your right to free speech and a speaking engagement. Tweet or post one wrong word on Instagram or Facebook, even if you’re a teenager just getting to grips with the world and with words, and you may find yourself being interviewed by the police and banned from a platform, accused, tried and found guilty in not much longer than it took to type the offending word. Never mind that you sincerely think you know what the word means, or that the employee of the social media business who has to make the decision to ban you may have the reading age of a twelve-year-old and be working from a checklist. Use a wrong word about your latest young adult novel and it will never see the light of day and fans will soon be demanding your humble apology.

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Rocci Stucci: StreamingTalkRadio.com