Tag Archives: Facebook

Can A Good Result Come From A Bad Platform? A Rant

Last autumn I posted a photograph on Facebook of two adult women from a Sing-Sing in Papua New Guinea. They were wearing grass skirts and necklaces. Within a couple hours it disappeared and I received a notice that the photograph “violated community standards”. Evidently, Facebook trolls their platform with algorithms looking for the breasts that half (or more) of homo sapiens sapiens possess and that many display as part of either ordinary living or reenactments and continuation of traditions dating back millennia.

Two Sing-Sing Dancers
Hmm…Hmm…Hmmm. Now That’s One I’d Go Out With! Two Women Dancers Admiring A Male Dancer

If I had, instead, posted some vitriolic, racist bullshit about exterminating people of color, starting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, all would have been hunky-dory. No problema, I would have been simply a righteous asshole expressing my First Amendment rights and espousing violence like many another red-blooded white man with below-average self-esteem; poor work skills; poorer general social skills; a skepticism of science and book-learnin’; a knack for receiving a world view from Fox ‘News’ and, if I am a teen, an inability to get laid (young girls have radar that, almost immediately with few mistakes, can spot weirdos.)

In other words, a white guy who, along with his white male ancestors has enjoyed the prosperity and unearned status that has been their lot for the last few hundred years. When such a status is jeopardized by anyone, including their ‘natural’ soul mates, white women, it is time to pull the plug on the veneer of ‘live and let live’ and fight to keep – and extend, the privilege that exists. So what I dropped out of school in the 8th grade and would love to have lived in Roman times. I could have gone to those gladiatorial contests to give the thumbs down on the barbarians from the provinces? Yeh, I would have loved to join the military to bear arms if I could have passed the rudimentary skills test. And doin’ it for the USA would have been a bonus ‘cause I love this country, especially back when it enforced racial separation. Hoo-rah!

But, carrying a semi-automatic gun… er… weapon, in public is the next best thing. Hell, better: I don’t have to follow orders from some jerk with a ‘high & tight’. (And, too, it really makes me feel like a man, you know. A whole lot. I know the chicks dig it!)

Who you callin’ deplorable!

To be more fair, there are fellow travelers who are not functionally stupid. As I have no known close acquaintances in this category I have not been able to ask whether such individuals actually believe all the clap-trap of white supremacists or whether they are just along for the ride because they stand to benefit from any extension of ole’ white boy power.

So… what this rant is really about is whether I will continue to use Facebook for posts or dump it and return to just writing on my Blog. As Facebook is 110% dollar driven I don’t think it will change much, despite Zucker-face buying time by mouthing the right code words at congressional hearings about the company having to do better.

What WILL amend Facebook’s corporate behavior is when they are sued and saddled with billions of dollars in legal claims similar to those that were faced by Big Tobacco. When a corporation knows it operates in an area that is a detriment to society it is culpable. I’m sure they will holler they are a news outlet letting their users enjoy the full extent of their First Amendments rights but we all know that, in truth, Facebook is a private business that is, in fact, in business to make money, not engage in the public good.

I have two more postings I am contemplating. One on evolutionary biology and one on Trumpism and capital. Then, I think I will bow out. It’s been a good, if uneasy, ride!