The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,/ Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit/ Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,/ Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. That’s how Edward Fitzgerald translated the 51st quatrain of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in his first edition of his book (1859). Fitzgerald might have done that translation differently had he known of our modern social media. Social media firms can “wash out” not just words, but posts, threads, and even entire accounts, turning account holders into an “unperson” in seconds.*
This is, of course, supposed to prevent the spread of disinformation like the anti-vaxxers continue to spread, close fake Russian and other foreign accounts helping destabilize democracies, close accounts of outsiders trying to elect Trump, and his skinny mimic PoiLIEvre, and other far-right, authoritarian politicians. It should help protect democracies from such influences, it should help protect people from pseudoscience, from scams, from foreign actors, from predators, from liars, cheats, predators, and fake accounts. It should be good, right, keep democracy strong and safe, right?
Well, sometimes. It can be used in an utterly Stalinist manner against ordinary people, too, simply for voicing an opinion on an issue, event, or politician. The AI algorithms that act as gatekeepers for social media platforms can be unrelenting in their strict application of the rules and accounts often get suspended for the wrong reasons.
I understand and appreciate fact-checking, even if I grumble when it catches me sharing something not quite kosher (I know, I know: I should confirm everything first but sometimes the ol’ lizard brain kicks in…). I understand why the platforms remove posts with disinformation, even if they were well-intended: too many people are already being dumbed-down by Fox Newz, Newzmax, and the other propaganda outlets for Russian State TV, by QAnon and its conspiracy-addled posters, by the scams, lies, and disinformation spewed from millions of rightwing anti-democracy podcasters and politicians, by the firehose of lies from Trump and PoiLIEvre. I understand what I think the intent of the algorithms is.
Or, at least, that’s how I felt when Meta recently kicked me off Facebook, closed my feed, closed all my pages, erased my presence, unfriended me from all my contacts, pulled me out of my groups, and wiped my photos and my data. All without telling me why. It was, I admit, a tad disconcerting. I can live without Facebook, but I’d at least like the opportunity to say goodbye to the hundreds of people in my network. In fact, I’ve often considered quitting it, but…
Okay, I share a lot of what some rightwing MAGA cultists might object to: news and analysis videos from MSNBC, opinion pieces from Brian Tyler Cohen, Glenn Kirschner, David Packman, Lawrence O’Donnell, The View; humorous opening monologues by Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and Jon Stewart. Stuff that makes MAGA cultists clutch their pearls and demand media outlets lose their licences for not worshipping their Orange God. And, speaking of god and other supernatural beings, I sometimes also post videos and stories from atheists, skeptics, and paleontologists (the latter drives the creationists bonkers).
But so what? I don’t write these pieces. I just share them. okay, so I sometimes edit the text that accompanies the links. I throw in words like “felon” in front of Trump’s name because, well, he is a convicted felon. I sometimes add more colourful terms like racist, serial liar, serial adulterer, business fraud, and con artist in severe cognitive decline. Those are all easily verifiable facts: he is all of those things and much, much worse (like an adjudicated rapist, pseudo-Christian, fascist, narcissist). Only the cultists don’t admit that.
And I admit I have sometimes commented anyone who supports either Trump or PoiLIEvre is helping Putin destabilize our democracies, but again that’s true. As we’ve learned from his comments at rallies recently, Trump also supports mass deportations, extra-judicial imprisonments, using the National Guard and military to punish political opponents, neo-Nazia and their organizations, insurrectionists, pseudo-Christian nationalism, retraction of women’s rights, tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires while raising taxes on the middle and lower classes, repealing healthcare programs and social benefits, police violence against immigrants — all well-documented in his Project 2025.
Anyone who supports Trump supports these measures, as well. Trump is, from my perspective at least, an enemy of the state and his supporters are traitors to democracy. Ditto with anyone who supports Skinny Trump Pierre PoiLIEvre. And, sure, I think their supporters are gullible meat puppets with a low IQ barely above their shoe size. But, hey, who cares what I think? It’s just my opinion.
And yes, okay, I recently added a comment that the NRA is Russian-funded and a Russian asset (easily proven by the many credible media reports). And I called them a “domestic terrorist organization” because they benefit from mass shootings, which is also true and well-documented. It is my opinion that they should be closed, their assets seized, and their leaders charged as domestic terrorists. But so what? I’m a Canadian and my opinion about US politics and organizations carries all the weight of a butterfly. I stand by my views that the NRA should be shut down for the damage it has done to the USA and to sanity.
But I’ve never shared pseudoscience, nor the numerous anti-vaxxer lies, never shared Trump’s Big Lie about winning the 2020 election or that the Jan. 6 insurrectionists were there to show their love, not any of Elon Musk’s lies about Trump or Harris. I’ve never shared MTG’s crackpot conspiracies about Jewish space lasers or Dems controlling the weather. I’ve never shared the pseudo-Christian hate that spews from the Talibangelists or the racism, homophobia, and misogyny and bigotry that rightwing posters spew every day on social media. My comments (the vast majority are backed up by credible media reports and Trump’s own words) have, in comparison, been pretty tame.**
Meta must have thought so, too, after reviewing my appeal and restoring my account. It has made me somewhat less eager to repeat the experience and I have been more circumspect in my comments. Still, thanks to this the relationship with Meta and Facebook has soured enough for me to reconsider closing my account voluntarily. I’ll give it some more serious thought over the coming weeks. There are, after all, other platforms on which to engage…
Notes:
* Omar Khayyam, Wikipedia tells us, was a poet who lived in Persia in the late 11th and early 12th century. Fitzgerald was a 19th-century English translator. For a fascinating exploration of Fitzgerald’s translations, online versions of all his editions, and a database of publications, I recommend Sarah Sunday’s excellent website on the various Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Editions. Fitzgerald first published his book with 75 quatrains in 1859, the same year Darwin published his first edition of On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection. Fitzgerald would continue to work on his translations for many more years, publishing editions in 1868 (110 quatrains), 1872 (101 quatrains), 1879 (101 quatrains) and finally 1889 (101 quatrains). The first American edition was released in 1878, a reprint of the British 3rd ed.
** Xitter has Musk and his cohort of far-right, pro-Putin extremists to flood the feeds with lies and disinformation. Facebook, at least, doesn’t give them the sort of fascist and racist platform that Musk provides.
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