Welcome to my hole in the ground

Once again I'm effectively homeless online. I quit Reddit after the whole API thing; for some reason I didn't miss it. But I got involved again on Facebook, which I'd abandoned for years. I guess I really wanted a place to talk about politics.

It's probably me. There's an undeniable pattern. I get involved in political groups online, and end up being censored and/or banned for what I'm told are extremist comments. Now, as I see it, my comments are anything but extremist; the oligarchs are literally killing off the human race and rendering the Earth uninhabitable for life, but we're not allowed to even TALK about fighting back.

The latest round was particularly ironic, I think. I was on a Facebook group that was originally called "Guillotines for Billionaires", but was later called "Guillotines For A Better America", or something like that. I think the implication of violence was pretty clear, no? In fact, I was quite surprised that Facebook itself allowed the group to exist. It was pretty clear that the group wasn't hidden or anything, since we were hit by a surprisingly high number of DNC trolls. But in any case, I had fun making memes and being involved with the group. Until...

Someone posted a photo of a sign on a pillar that said something like "Thank a cop today", with a stick underneath that said "And pepper spray them". I commented "And kick them in the balls. HARD. And then take their gun." Okay, a little harsh, but all cops are bastards in my book. Nonetheless the INSTANT I tried to post that comment I got a message that my comment went against community standards - and that if I deleted it immediately I might "avoid potential account restrictions".

Now, there's nothing that gets me more angry than being told to shut up. So I quit the group and Facebook on the spot.

That's free speech in these days of late-stage capitalism; censorship by software, with no appeal allowed. The only places that have free speech are those where no one will hear you...like here.

So I'll be writing here and in the other digital holes in the ground, for now.

Facebook rapes privacy

Holy CRAP, does Facebook rape privacy! I was explaining my CPAP machine to my mother, and looked up "CPAP mask" images on Google to show her what they look like. Now, I DON'T have Facebook Messenger or any other Facebook app installed; I use my non-Google browser to access FB instead. And I used the native Google search box in Android to search, not the browser at all.

Nonetheless Facebook is now cramming my feed with CPAP ads. It never did before. So my only conclusion is that Facebook is leveraging their presence in my browser to steal data from unrelated apps on my phone. I'm not sure what to do about that, but I'm NOT happy. This only reinforces my determination to never buy anything I see on Facebook, ever.

Facebook Recidivism

 I'm back in Facebook jail. This is my fourth time; I'd gone for years without any trouble, but in the last few months I've been suspended four times.

What was my offense?

Criticizing Bernie Sanders for selling out the progressive movement.

Now, the funny thing is that I've used almost the exact same words to criticize him on Facebook before with no pushback whatsoever from FB. I can only speculate as to the change in FB's response. My guess is that either I have a stalker (not impossible, it has happened before) who is reporting every controversial comment I post, or else Facebook has escalated their censorship standards. It's also possible that I'm on Facebook's watchlist, of course.

In any case, it reminds me of the old Soviet censorship that we used to hear about. It seems that we need to develop a samizdat network of our own; a way to be able to communicate without having Mark Zuckerberg's clammy hands clamped over our digital mouths.

The problem, of course, is that the three major social networks (Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter) are all subject to rigorous censorship by the oligarchy. Smaller ones aren't, but that's because their user base is so small that you might as well write your post on a piece of paper and flush it down the toilet. The oligarchy is perfectly happy to have us waste our time talking to nobody; it's only when we might rile up the sheep (as they see them) that they have their sheepdogs take us down.

It's a problem.

In the meantime, I've been posting on a very small new site called Leftbook.us. It desperately needs more users, but given that Facebook has been flat-out purging leftist groups there (and some libertarian/right groups, too), Leftbook seems like a good option. It's not a place to reach the unaffiliated, but it could be a good place to meet other leftists and organize - which is something that the oligarchs have spent a LOT of money to discourage.

Break Up Facebook

 Here's the hashtag I was trying to figure out!

#BreakUpFacebook

And since I can say it here without being banned, break up Mark Zuckerberg, too. With a guillotine.

The Whims of King Zuckerberg

The 24-hour suspension that I got from Facebook last evening had magically turned into a three-day suspension today - for no reason that I can see, since I wasn't on Facebook since last night and am not able to post, comment, or react to anything there anyway.

I plan to work up an anti-Zuckerberg meme, post it on Facebook, and spend as much time off Facebook as possible.

We are not free.