Facebook, good or bad?
Facebook has rightly come under a ton of criticism, most notably from Sasha Baron Cohen, for refusing to call out fake news posts. I agree with that criticism although I really don’t think Mark Zuckerberg would personally vote for Donald Trump. It’s Facebook's warped business model and their idea that they can’t censor any posts, although they can and do when it is demanded or required, eg live posts of massacres like that in Christchurch. There are vast amounts of information and it’s extremely hard to monitor it all. And there are technical issues as to whether they can rein things in a bit.
I use FB a
lot and consider myself an eco-warrior battling against bullshit media such as
News Corp, Fox News etc, and the plain facts remain that social media, eg FB,
gives me a platform to fight back against the might of Murdoch. FB presents a
lot of good information from reliable sources that highlight positive
developments and ongoing threats to share with likeminded others. Yes, it’s
said that Facebook is an echo chamber linking like minds. I don’t have an issue
with that at all, and yes I know that right-wing users are also actively
pushing their fake news, trolls, and whatever to advance their dark causes.
Theirs is the junk mail of the Internet, the clickbait bandits.
I get a lot
of news and information from FaceBook well before it breaks in news media
elsewhere. I lean towards my trusted sources but fact check when the
information doesn’t seem credible. I don’t go for clickbait and always read
before I share, as I do often. It’s a dangerous and tricky world but it’s the
best option we have, like the underground press of yesteryear it gives a
flicker of hope in a sane and just world not presided over by Donald J Trump
and others of his ilk.
Another value of Facebook is reconnecting with old friends from the past, something I've done on a number of occasions, like an online reunion. Notifications of events is another bonus. Some of one's new friends are remarkable people from all shades of life and all levels of education. Of course, there's trash and treasure, especially when trolls enter your turf determined to upset you.
Best of all is humour you can circulate to lighten the tone and keep the spirits up. There's nothing like a good joke or cartoon to share and chuckle over. Humour can be wisdom writ large when it does the rounds in a modern-day folk process. Laughter makes our day in a dismal world fraught with danger. If you don't laugh you cry. So take reality leavened with laughs.
Another value of Facebook is reconnecting with old friends from the past, something I've done on a number of occasions, like an online reunion. Notifications of events is another bonus. Some of one's new friends are remarkable people from all shades of life and all levels of education. Of course, there's trash and treasure, especially when trolls enter your turf determined to upset you.
Best of all is humour you can circulate to lighten the tone and keep the spirits up. There's nothing like a good joke or cartoon to share and chuckle over. Humour can be wisdom writ large when it does the rounds in a modern-day folk process. Laughter makes our day in a dismal world fraught with danger. If you don't laugh you cry. So take reality leavened with laughs.
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