As our system and institutions — from our free elections to our two-party system — continue to brace against the battering rams of corruption and evil men, the accelerating breakdown of the system that supposedly keeps the public informed casts its own shadow.
As the Fourth Estate’s grounds shift beneath it almost on a daily basis, one thing is clear: social media is the central location where much of the world’s population relies on a feed of a variety of news and current events.
In fact one could say that Facebook and Twitter, to name the two largest, are the platform for the press. So many more people get their Washington Post headlines, for example, from their social media feeds, I would say, rather than scrolling through the WaPo’s own front page.
Social media on the other hand, like to pretend otherwise. Facebook refuses to take down an obviously doctored recording of Nancy Pelosi as if it were some SNL skit that offended some “snowflakes”. Hey Facebook: this is not a Loony Toons clip! It’s a boldfaced lie.
To the users, this cynicism signals a deep disrespect. For the country, an almost treasonous level of negligence — especially in light of the known sabotage executed by a hostile foreign power in our last federal election.
This decision seems the continued perversion of the main stream media’s strenuous attempt at “balance”. This video intentionally falsified to spread a right-wing “truth” has been rendered 100% fake. (I wonder what percentage of bogus Russian accounts spread the video?) And yet it remains.
Does Facebook think that it’s contributing to some sort of sympathetic equilibrium that there are “good people on both sides” so we must not take away their fun falsified video? (Ladies and Gentlemen, gather round: let us make up our own minds: Is the coherent, well-spoken professional lady reality? Or could this video actually be an illusion!? Maybe she was drunk, and the Libs just sped it up to provide much needed cover? Maybe it’s a reality from a parallel dimension! You be the judge!)
Are the collective executive leadership in Silicone Valley this dense? They can’t really be in denial can they? — that they are in control of what people see and read as truth? — much like the evening news back in it’s heyday. (Can you imagine a clip of Walter Cronkite showing one film reel of Nixon as it was recorded; then another one as doctored with a shrug “We received these two videos from two different sources and decided out of balance to air both — you decide what is true!”)
Or are they addicted to data such viral videos provide for them and their advertisers that they just can’t shut off that I.V. drip?
As Facebook continues to be exposed as liars, thieves and information moderators (with very poor judgement), the suspicion that I have Stockholm Syndrome just grows. I have reconnected with old acquaintances; I get to stay in better contact with family and friends outside of my regional community. I get to read ideas from writers that I may not have been exposed to otherwise.
And my realization that this modern perk is coming at a steeper and steeper price has me furious at the social media’s leadership. How dare you, Facebook, feel so little about truth, justice and our democracy to make using you more and more of a compromise every damn day?
Or perhaps one can look at the current state of Facebook as that more akin to a royal court of antiquity. One knows the history of the way the Kings’ and Queens’ courts were hotbeds of political intrigue. Supposedly those that were invited to live at court, went. Because not to would be an extraordinary loss of connection and status even if it meant living with deep anxiety.
You sign in to this digital court run by corrupt aristocrats, because it’s so hard to stay away from this captivating public square, and enter a world where you must hear the whispers. You must stay on your toes, and be aware of the danger around you. Do not dare mistake reality for malicious gossip; because the royal court doesn’t care which is truth versus what is sensational tittle-tattle.
Facebook only cares for scandalous hilarity as it fans its flames into our hall of mirrors. Us users are its court jester. Our weakened press tries to extinguish the flames but it’s a futile effort. Until our digital overlords start to care about the consequences of their apathy and inertia, the traditional press will just have to live with its new role of protesting in a smoke-filled room.
They must reverse their decision.
Or the rest of us must make a tough decision of a universal boycott against logging on. (Are there enough of us capable to execute such as effort to make a lasting impact, I wonder?) To do nothing is to walk knowingly into 2016 all over again.