Facebook is an electronic ghetto.
A place of phantom friends and real enemies.
A virtual gulag in Cyberia where ideas deemed dangerous by central planners are selectively censored by robots
who have been alerted to the thought crimes by vigilant and easily offended 'followers".
A digital Dannemora where the prisoners fight with each other for the amusement of the guards.
A place where the worst of human frailties are on constant display and the intimate details of our lives are
transformed into commodities to be traded in ways to which we are never privy.
I know all of this and more, yet I don't leave.
Why can't I break it's spell?
Is it just habit, or is my instinctual desire to be part of the hive, to "like" and be liked just too strong to resist?
I tell myself I am there to expose Big Brother, but maybe I have been broken by him.
Do I love Big Brother?
We're all fish in the same pond. We can no more disengage from the everywhere presence of Empire than we can choose not to breath. But we can be selective as to how we swim through these dark waters, who we eat and who we allow to eat us.
ReplyDeleteFacebook and all the other antisocial media are electronic crack. This evil should not be given to children or those with addictive personalities. Just put it out of your life. You don't need it half as much as it needs you. If it helps, keep in mind that there are a few people getting rich by investing in our cultural downfall.
ReplyDeleteElectronic crack indeed!
DeleteDavid Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" features a form of entertainment that is so addicting that, once viewed, it can't be turned off by the viewer. It's so addictive that maintaining health -- eating, sleeping, bathing, defecation -- is impossible.
ReplyDeleteI haven't "joined" Facebook, i.e., set up a Facebook account. Clearly the joining wouldn't be a threat to survival, and I can't say my not joining has improved my life or cut me out of something. I just don't need it.
A year ago, I cut out home internet, too, and never had pay-tv in my home.
Once again, it's just something I don't need now.
I encourage others to disconnect, if they can. Why bother? I'd like to see more Americans no longer giving telecomm all that dough for pay-tv and internet access. Demand a free high speed national wi-fi system.
The compensation packages for top five key personnel at AT&T was, collectively, over $64 million with individual compensation packages ranging between $10 and just over $23 million.
In 2012 the top five over at Comcast took in collectively over $112 million.
I don’t have a Facebook account and have nothing to say about it. I’ve never had pay-tv in my home. After over a decade with wi-fi access at home, we cut it out and haven’t had it for over a year, except for enough access to check e-mails and some news via one of our phones. No land-lines.
ReplyDeleteThe compensation packages for top five key personnel at AT&T was, collectively, over $64 million with individual compensation packages ranging between $10 and just over $23 million.
In 2012 the top five over at Comcast took in collectively over $112 million.
I don’t want recognition for abstinence, but would like to see more Americans no longer sending monthly subscription checks to internet service providers and pay-tv services and trying to go without it while demanding free national high-speed internet access.
The internet is not just an entertainment delivery system.