Silenced for Sharing My Emotions

I recently made a post speaking about a somewhat controversial figure and a video they made that made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I asked what other people’s opinions of that person were, hoping to gain a better perspective of them that wasn’t relying only on the things I took offense to. After several replies taking sympathy, one person got very defensive, warning that people speaking about them negatively contributes to them being silenced. I responded by saying I was trying to start a conversation, not silence anyone, and invited them to share their personal positive experiences with the public figure I was talking about. There were a couple other replies from others after that, but I never got a change to read them, as my post was removed. I made a post about a video someone influential made, then was accused of trying to silence that voice despite the entire objective of my post being to invite conversation, then I WAS SILENCED by having my post taken down. I didn’t even say anything negative about that person other than my own negative emotional reactions to what they said. If you shout “I’m being silenced!!” loud enough for people who didn’t even know you to now know you feel silenced, you are not silenced. Voicing negative feelings someone gives you is not harassment. If people on the other side of these kinds of arguments lived one day in the other’s shoes, they would see all the real harassment we have to face, and feel the struggle to say anything that’s heard by anyone—the feeling of truly being silenced. Before you defend someone you admire, consider whether or not the person you’re responding to is actually doing harm, or if you just didn’t really like or agree with what they said. Voicing an opinion different from yours is not silencing you, you refusing to listen to that voice is silencing them. I thought this was a platform where I could safely share my emotions and get helpful constructive feedback, but clearly that’s not the case. Influential figures can continue to say all the harmful things they want about whoever they want because “freedom of speech!” but the people they hurt aren’t allowed to voice their pain even on an anonymous platform focused on mental health like this one. How hypocritical is it to fight for freedom of speech by taking away someone else’s speech? I’m so incredibly disappointed.